Systems and methods of detecting and mitigating malicious network activity

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein are systems and methods executing a security server that perform various processes using alert elements containing various data fields indicating threats of fraud or attempts to penetrate an enterprise network. Using alert elements, the security server generate integrated alerts that are associated with customers of the system and assign a risk score for the integrated alerts, which the security server uses to store and sort the integrated alerts according to a priority, based on the relative risk scores. Analyst computers may query and fetch integrated alerts from an integrate alert database, and then present the integrate alerts to be addressed by an analyst according to the priority level of the respective integrated alerts. This allows to ensure that the right customer, is worked by the right analyst, at the right time, to maximize fraud prevention and minimize customer impact.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.62/485,124, filed Apr. 13, 2017, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates generally to systems, apparatus, and methodsfor integrated risk assessment and management by detecting andmitigating malicious network activity.

BACKGROUND

To combat fraud or other malicious behaviors, modern enterprise networksemploy a series of multiple reporting devices that indicate potentialmalicious behavior, through a variety of channels. For example, awebserver hosting an enterprise website may report failed loginattempts, while firewalls may report blocked data traffic arriving fromuntrusted Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. In existing securitysolutions, the various devices may produce alerts containing potentialthreat or vulnerability information associated with their respectivechannels. These alerts are then assigned in a work-queue to anappropriate engineer or fraud analyst who is tasked with addressing theparticular alert. In a fraud detection context within a financialinstitution, these alerts can often be associated with a customer, wherefraud analysts can sometimes identify an attack theme, or “scenario,”across multiple alerts, provided the alerts arrive in the working-queuein quick succession.

One problem with this basic queuing approach in the conventionaltechnology is managing volume. The sheer volume and growth of alertspresents an operational challenge to detection and analysis of alerts.In many large enterprises, the daily alert volume across all customerscan be in the thousands, tens-of-thousands, or hundreds-of-thousands,depending on the size of the enterprise. The volume of alerts generatedoften exceeds the capacity of the personnel. This results in asignificant portion of alerts expiring or not reaching a finaldisposition of “fraud” or “not fraud.” To help ease the burden ofvolume, existing technology executes fraud detection rules that attemptto assign incoming alerts to one or more scenarios. However, thesetechnological solutions have their own shortcomings, as automated fraudrules become yet another contributor to the volume. The deployment ofnew fraud rules increases the alert volume or working-queue volumebecause there is some overlap with existing fraud rules. One fraud rulemight assign an alert to one working-queue for a first scenario, while asecond fraud rule might assign the same alert to another working-queuefor a second scenario. Thus, this automation may help assign alerts toan appropriate queue, but ultimately fail to reduce the overall volumeof alerts.

Furthermore, security engineers and fraud analysts often interact withenterprise case management software that logs, monitors, and managespersonnel efforts to mitigate alerts. Conventional case managementsoftware can tap into working-queues and alerts that are stored intodatabases that receive and store alerts from, in some cases, multiplealerts were generated in multiple queue for each customer, making itdifficult to achieve situational awareness and determine the optimumalert priority to maximize fraud-loss prevention.

Additionally, the sheer volume of alerts also creates a technicalproblem for the enterprises. Identifying and processing a large volumeof alerts requires high processing power. This is highly undesirablebecause the enterprises have to designate a large portion of theircomputing infrastructure to processing the alerts, which is inevitablyexpensive. Furthermore, processing a large number of the alerts, evengiven today's processing capabilities of the computers, may cause unduedelays in the alert determination, which is also highly undesirablebecause, if not detected in a timely manner, a fraudulent transactioncan damage the enterprises' computer infrastructure.

SUMMARY

For the aforementioned reasons, there is a need for an improvement tothe fraud detection technology that will reduce the volume of alertswithout sacrificing data inputs received from devices through thevarious alert channels. There is a need a network and computer-specificsolution to reduce the time and processing power needed to detectfraudulent transactions.

Disclosed herein are systems and methods capable of addressing theabove-described shortcomings and may also provide any number ofadditional or alternative benefits and advantages. As described herein,embodiments of the present disclosure relate to systems, apparatuses,methods, and computer program products for integrated risk assessmentand management by detecting and mitigating malicious network activityand/or fraud indicators to prioritize customers in a fraud detectionworkflow using a holistic risk score created by consolidating fraudindicators into a single alert. Such systems, apparatuses, methods, andcomputer program products of the present disclosure maximize fraud lossprevention by using loss driven scoring that learns from evolving fraudtrends, increases speed of the fraud detection by dynamicallyre-evaluating risk as new information becomes available, increases inavailable capacity by reducing false positives, and provides scalablesolution to serve growing membership with existing fraud detectionassets.

Systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer program products of thepresent disclosure execute a security server or any other server of afraud prevention system that performs various processes using alertelements containing various data fields, indicating threats of fraud orattempts to penetrate an enterprise network, in order to determinewhether the alert elements contain attributes matching attributes of oneor more scenarios. Using these alert elements, the security server orany other server of the fraud prevention system generate integratedalerts that are associated with clients/customers/users/customers of thesystem and assign a risk score for the integrated alerts, which thesecurity server or any other server of the fraud detection system usesto store and sort the integrated alerts according to a priority based ontheir relative risk scores. Analyst computers may query and fetch theseintegrated alerts from an integrated alert database and then presentthese integrated alerts to be addressed by an analyst according to thepriority level of the respective integrated alerts. This can ensure thatthe right customer is worked by the right analyst at the right time tomaximize fraud prevention, reduce fraud detection analyst resources, andminimize customer impact.

In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method may include receiving,by a computer, a set of one or more alert elements containing a customeridentifier from one or more alert-generating systems configured togenerate a corresponding alert element. The computer-implemented methodmay further include generating, by the computer, in an integrated alertdatabase an integrated alert associated with the customer identifier,the integrated alert comprising one or more data fields containing datafrom the set of one or more alert elements associated with the customeridentifier in the alert element database, wherein the integrated alertdatabase is configured to store a plurality of integrated alertsassociated with a plurality of customer identifiers. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include generating, by thecomputer, a first learning algorithm configured to determine a riskassociated with each of the set of one or more alert elements, whereinthe first learning algorithm receives an input of a first learningalgorithm dataset based on data associated with a set of one or morescenario attribute models, wherein each of the set of one or morescenario attribute models is associated with a different rate of fraud.The computer-implemented method may further include iterativelyupdating, by the computer, the first learning algorithm dataset based onupdated data associated with the set of one or more scenario attributemodels, wherein the computer periodically queries a database to receivethe updated data associated with the set of one or more scenarioattribute models. The computer-implemented method may further includeexecuting, by the computer, the first learning algorithm on eachintegrated alert stored in the integrated alert database to generate arisk score for each respective integrated alert, the risk score of theintegrated alert based upon the one or more data fields in theintegrated alert. The computer-implemented method may further include,upon the computer receiving a second alert element associated with thecustomer identifier from an alert-generating system, identifying, by thecomputer, in the integrated alert database the integrated alertassociated with the customer identifier; and updating, by the computer,the risk score for the integrated alert based upon the one or more datafields of the second alert element and the set of one or more alertelements, upon determining that the integrated alert is not marked ascompleted.

In another embodiment, a fraud prevention system may include one or morealert-generating systems, configured to generate an alert element in analert element database, configured to store a plurality of alertelements. The fraud prevention system may further include a computerconfigured to receive a set of one or more alert elements containing acustomer identifier from one or more alert-generating systems configuredto generate a corresponding alert element. The computer is furtherconfigured to generate in an integrated alert database an integratedalert associated with the customer identifier, the integrated alertcomprising one or more data fields containing data from the set of oneor more alert elements associated with the customer identifier in thealert element database, wherein the integrated alert database isconfigured to store a plurality of integrated alerts associated with aplurality of customer identifiers. The computer is further configured togenerate a first learning algorithm configured to determine a riskassociated with each of the set of one or more alert elements, whereinthe first learning algorithm receives an input of a first learningalgorithm dataset based on data associated with a set of one or morescenario attribute models, wherein each of the set of one or morescenario attribute models is associated with a different rate of fraud.The computer is further configured to iteratively update the firstlearning algorithm dataset based on updated data associated with the setof one or more scenario attribute models, wherein the computerperiodically queries a database to receive the updated data associatedwith the set of one or more scenario attribute models. The computer isfurther configured to execute the first learning algorithm on eachintegrated alert stored in the integrated alert database to generate arisk score for each respective integrated alert, the risk score of theintegrated alert based upon the one or more data fields in theintegrated alert. The computer is further configured to, upon thecomputer receiving a second alert element associated with the customeridentifier from an alert-generating system, identify in the integratedalert database the integrated alert associated with the customeridentifier; and update the risk score for the integrated alert basedupon the one or more data fields of the second alert element and the setof one or more alert elements, upon determining that the integratedalert is not marked as completed.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method may includereceiving, by a computer, a set of one or more alert elements containinga customer identifier from one or more alert-generating systemsconfigured to generate a corresponding alert element. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include storing, by thecomputer, each alert element into an alert element database configuredto store a plurality of alert elements associated with a plurality ofcustomer identifiers. The computer-implemented method may furtherinclude generating, by the computer, in an integrated alert database, anintegrated alert associated with the customer identifier where theintegrated alert may include one or more data fields containing datafrom the set of one or more alert elements associated with the customeridentifier in the alert element database. The integrated alert databasemay be configured to store a plurality of integrated alerts associatedwith a plurality of customer identifiers. The computer-implementedmethod may further include generating, by the computer, a risk score foreach respective integrated alert stored in the integrated alert databasewhere the risk score of the integrated alert is based upon the one ormore data fields in the integrated alert. The computer-implementedmethod may further include, upon the computer receiving a second alertelement associated with the customer identifier from an alert-generatingsystem, identified by the computer, in the integrated alert database,the integrated alert associated with the customer identifier. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include updating, by thecomputer, the risk score for the integrated alert based upon the one ormore data fields of the second alert element and the set of one or morealert elements upon determining that the integrated alert is not markedas completed.

In another embodiment, a fraud prevention system may include one or morealert-generating systems, configured to generate an alert element in analert element database, configured to store a plurality of alertelements. The fraud prevention system may further include a computerconfigured to receive a set of one or more alert elements containing acustomer identifier from the one or more alert-generating systemsconfigured to generate a corresponding alert element. The computer isfurther configured to store each alert element into the alert elementdatabase configured to store the plurality of alert elements associatedwith a plurality of customer identifiers. The computer is furtherconfigured to generate an integrated alert associated with the customeridentifier in an integrated alert database. The integrated alert mayinclude one or more data fields containing data from the set of one ormore alert elements associated with the customer identifier in the alertelement database. The integrated alert database may be configured tostore a plurality of integrated alerts associated with a plurality ofcustomer identifiers. The computer is further configured to generate arisk score for each respective integrated alert stored in the integratedalert database where the risk score of the integrated alert is basedupon the one or more data fields in the integrated alert. The computeris further configured to identify, in the integrated alert database, theintegrated alert associated with the customer identifier upon thecomputer receiving a second alert element associated with the customeridentifier from an alert-generating system. The computer is furtherconfigured to update the risk score for the integrated alert based uponthe one or more data fields of the second alert element and the set ofone or more alert elements upon determining that the integrated alert isnot marked as completed.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method may includereceiving, by a computer, a set of one or more alert elements containinga customer identifier from one or more alert-generating systemsconfigured to generate a corresponding alert element. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include storing, by thecomputer, each alert element into an alert element database configuredto store a plurality of alert elements associated with a plurality ofcustomer identifiers. The computer-implemented method may furtherinclude generating, by the computer, in an integrated alert database anintegrated alert associated with the customer identifier, the integratedalert comprising one or more data fields containing data from the set ofone or more alert elements associated with the customer identifier inthe alert element database, wherein the integrated alert database isconfigured to store a plurality of integrated alerts associated with aplurality of customer identifiers. The computer-implemented method mayfurther include executing, by the computer, a first learning algorithmon each respective integrated alert stored in the integrated alertdatabase to generate a risk score for each respective integrated alert,the risk score of the integrated alert based upon the one or more datafields in the integrated alert. The computer-implemented method mayfurther include generating, by the computer, a second learning algorithmconfigured to identify a particular type of threat associated with eachrespective integrated alert, wherein the second learning algorithmreceives an input of a second learning algorithm dataset based on dataassociated with a set of model attributes indicating a potential fraudscenario. The computer-implemented method may further includeiteratively updating, by the computer, the second learning algorithmdataset based on updated data associated with the set of modelattributes, wherein the computer periodically queries a database toreceive the updated data associated with the set of model attributes.The computer-implemented method may further include executing, by thecomputer, the second learning algorithm to identify the particular typeof threat for the integrated alert for each respective integrated alert,wherein each integrated alert is stored into a sub-database of theintegrated database according to the potential fraud scenario, andsorted according to the relative risk score within the sub-database. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include transmitting, by thecomputer, a prioritized integrated alert to an analyst computerassociated with a set of analyst credentials with rights to access thesub-database containing the prioritized integrated alert, whereby theanalyst computer is configured to evaluate the prioritized integratedalert and deny one or more transactions associated with the customeridentifier.

In another embodiment, a fraud prevention system may include one or morealert-generating systems configured to generate an alert element and analert element database configured to store a plurality of alertelements. The system may further include a computer configured toreceive a set of one or more alert elements containing a customeridentifier from one or more alert-generating systems configured togenerate a corresponding alert element. The computer is furtherconfigured to store each alert element into an alert element databaseconfigured to store a plurality of alert elements associated with aplurality of customer identifiers. The computer is further configured togenerate in an integrated alert database an integrated alert associatedwith the customer identifier, the integrated alert comprising one ormore data fields containing data from the set of one or more alertelements associated with the customer identifier in the alert elementdatabase, wherein the integrated alert database is configured to store aplurality of integrated alerts associated with a plurality of customeridentifiers. The computer is further configured to execute a firstlearning algorithm on each respective integrated alert stored in theintegrated alert database to generate a risk score for each respectiveintegrated alert, the risk score of the integrated alert based upon theone or more data fields in the integrated alert. The computer is furtherconfigured to generate a second learning algorithm configured toidentify a particular type of threat associated with each respectiveintegrated alert, wherein the second learning algorithm receives aninput of a second learning algorithm dataset based on data associatedwith a set of model attributes indicating a potential fraud scenario.The computer is further configured to iteratively update the secondlearning algorithm dataset based on updated data associated with the setof model attributes, wherein the computer periodically queries adatabase to receive the updated data associated with the set of modelattributes. The computer is further configured to execute the secondlearning algorithm to identify the particular type of threat for theintegrated alert for each respective integrated alert, wherein eachintegrated alert is stored into a sub-database of the integrateddatabase according to the potential fraud scenario, and sorted accordingto the relative risk score within the sub-database. The computer isfurther configured to transmit a prioritized integrated alert to ananalyst computer associated with a set of analyst credentials withrights to access the sub-database containing the prioritized integratedalert, whereby the analyst computer is configured to evaluate theprioritized integrated alert and deny one or more transactionsassociated with the customer identifier.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method may includereceiving, by a computer, a set of one or more alert elements containinga customer identifier from one or more alert-generating systemsconfigured to generate a corresponding alert element. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include storing, by thecomputer, each alert element into an alert element database configuredto store a plurality of alert elements associated with a plurality ofcustomer identifiers. The computer-implemented method may furtherinclude generating, by the computer, an integrated alert associated withthe customer identifier in an integrated alert database. The integratedalert may include one or more data fields containing data from the setof one or more alert elements associated with the customer identifier inthe alert element database. The integrated alert database may beconfigured to store a plurality of integrated alerts associated with aplurality of customer identifiers. The computer-implemented method mayfurther include generating, by the computer, a risk score for eachrespective integrated alert stored in the integrated alert databasewhere the risk score of the integrated alert is based upon the one ormore data fields in the integrated alert. The computer-implementedmethod may further include identifying, by the computer, a type ofthreat for the integrated alert for each respective integrated alertbased upon a set of model attributes indicating a potential fraudscenario where each integrated alert is stored into a sub-database ofthe integrated database according to the most likely related fraudscenario and sorted according to the relative risk score within thesub-database. The computer-implemented method may further includetransmitting, by the computer, a prioritized integrated alert to ananalyst computer associated with a set of analyst credentials withrights to access the sub-database containing the prioritized integratedalert, whereby the analyst computer is configured to evaluate theprioritized integrated alert and deny one or more transactionsassociated with the customer identifier.

In another embodiment, a fraud prevention system may include one or morealert-generating systems configured to generate an alert element and analert element database configured to store a plurality of alertelements. The system may further include a computer configured toreceive a set of one or more alert elements containing a customeridentifier from the one or more alert-generating systems configured togenerate a corresponding alert element. The computer is furtherconfigured to store each alert element into the alert element databaseconfigured to store the plurality of alert elements associated with aplurality of customer identifiers. The computer is further configured togenerate an integrated alert associated with the customer identifier inan integrated alert database. The integrated alert may include one ormore data fields containing data from the set of one or more alertelements associated with the customer identifier in the alert elementdatabase. The integrated alert database may be configured to store aplurality of integrated alerts associated with a plurality of customeridentifiers. The computer is further configured to generate a risk scorefor each respective integrated alert stored in the integrated alertdatabase where the risk score of the integrated alert is based upon theone or more data fields in the integrated alert. The computer is furtherconfigured to identify a type of threat for the integrated alert foreach respective integrated alert based upon a set of model attributesindicating a potential fraud scenario where each integrated alert isstored into a sub-database of the integrated database according to thepotential fraud scenario and sorted according to the relative risk scorewithin the sub-database. The computer is further configured to transmita prioritized integrated alert to an analyst computer associated with aset of analyst credentials with rights to access the sub-databasecontaining the prioritized integrated alert, whereby the analystcomputer is configured to evaluate the prioritized integrated alert anddeny one or more transactions associated with the customer identifier.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method may includegenerating, by a computer, a session record for a web-based interactionbetween a client computer and a webserver. The session record mayinclude one or more session attributes comprising a pattern for uniquelyidentifying the client computer. The computer-implemented method mayfurther include identifying, by the computer, in an integrated database,an integrated alert having a data field containing the deviceidentification pattern and having a data field indicating that theintegrated alert was associated with fraud. The integrated database maycontain a plurality of integrated alerts associated respectively with aplurality of customer identifiers. The computer-implemented method mayfurther include identifying, by the computer, one or more sessionrecords of one or more clients having session attributes matching withone or more session attributes of the session record. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include generating, by thecomputer, a session attribute model identifying a number of sessionattributes of the one or more session records of one or more clientsmatching with the one or more session attributes of the session record.The computer-implemented method may further include determining, by thecomputer, a total number of clients from the one or more clients acrossthe one or more session records that matches with the one or moresession attributes of the session record. The computer-implementedmethod may further include determining, by the computer, whether thenumber of session attributes of the one or more session records of theone or more clients that matches with the one or more session attributesof the session record is in a whitelist upon the computer determiningthat the total number of clients from the one or more clients across theone or more session records that matches with the one or more sessionattributes of the session record is greater than a predeterminedthreshold. The computer-implemented method may further include updating,by the computer, the whitelist by adding the number of sessionattributes of the one or more session records of one or more clientsthat matches with the one or more session attributes of the sessionrecord into the whitelist upon the computer determining that the numberof session attributes of the one or more session records of one or moreclients that matches with the one or more session attributes of thesession record is not in the whitelist, whereby the whitelist is used toevaluate and permit one or more transactions associated with the deviceidentifier.

In another embodiment, a fraud prevention system may include a clientcomputer, a webserver, and an integrated database containing a pluralityof integrated alerts associated respectively with a plurality ofcustomer identifiers. The computer is configured to generate a sessionrecord for a web-based interaction between the client computer and thewebserver. The session record may include one or more session attributescomprising a pattern for uniquely identifying the client computer. Thecomputer is further configured to identify in the integrated database anintegrated alert having a data field containing the device identifierand having a data field indicating that the integrated alert wasassociated with fraud. The computer is further configured to identifyone or more session records of one or more clients having sessionattributes matching with the one or more session attributes of thesession record. The computer is further configured to generate a sessionattribute model identifying a number of session attributes of the one ormore session records of one or more clients matching with the one ormore session attributes of the session record. The computer is furtherconfigured to determine a total number of clients from the one or moreclients across the one or more session records that match with the oneor more session attributes of the session record. The computer isfurther configured to determine whether the number of session attributesof the one or more session records of the one or more clients thatmatches with the one or more session attributes of the session record isin a whitelist upon the computer determining that the total number ofclients from the one or more clients across the one or more sessionrecords that matches with the one or more session attributes of thesession record is greater than a predetermined threshold. The computeris further configured to update the whitelist by adding the number ofsession attributes of the one or more session records of one or moreclients that matches with the one or more session attributes of thesession record into the whitelist upon the computer determining that thenumber of session attributes of the one or more session records of oneor more clients that matches with the one or more session attributes ofthe session record is not in the whitelist, whereby the whitelist isused to evaluate and permit one or more transactions associated with thedevice identifier.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method may includereceiving, by a computer, a record of a fraudulent transactionassociated with a client from a system database. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include determining, by thecomputer, one or more attributes corresponding to the fraudulenttransaction associated with the client. The computer-implemented methodmay further include tagging, by the computer, attributes in alltransactions that match with the one or more attributes corresponding tothe fraudulent transaction associated with the client. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include identifying, by thecomputer, a session record comprising one or more session attributesthat match the tagged attributes corresponding to the fraudulenttransaction associated with the client session record. The sessionrecord may be a web-based interaction between a client computer and awebserver. The one or more session attributes comprising a pattern foruniquely identifying the client computer. The computer-implementedmethod may further include identifying, by the computer, one or moresession records associated with one or more clients having sessionattributes matching with the one or more session attributes of thesession record. Upon the computer identifying that the one or moresession records associated with the one or more clients have the sessionattributes matching with the one or more session attributes of thesession record, the computer-implemented method may further includedetermining, by the computer, a total number of clients from the one ormore clients across the one or more session records that are unique. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include generating, by thecomputer, new fraud alerts elements for each of the unique clients,whereby the new fraud alert elements are used to deny one or moretransactions associated with each of the unique clients.

In another embodiment, a fraud prevention system may include a clientcomputer, a webserver, a system database containing records offraudulent transactions associated with clients, and a computer. Thecomputer is configured to receive a record of a fraudulent transactionassociated with a client from the system database. The computer isfurther configured to determine one or more attributes corresponding tothe fraudulent transaction associated with the client. The computer isfurther configured to tag attributes in all transactions that matcheswith the one or more attributes corresponding to the fraudulenttransaction associated with the client. The computer is furtherconfigured to identify a session record comprising one or more sessionattributes that match the tagged attributes corresponding to thefraudulent transaction associated with the client. The session record isa web-based interaction between the client computer and the webserver.The one or more session attributes comprising a pattern for uniquelyidentifying the client computer. The computer is further configured toidentify one or more session records associated with one or more clientshaving session attributes matching with the one or more sessionattributes of the session record. The computer is further configured to,upon the computer identifying that the one or more session recordsassociated with the one or more clients have the session attributesmatching with the one or more session attributes of the session record,determine a total number of clients from the one or more clients acrossthe one or more session records that are unique. The computer is furtherconfigured to generate new fraud alerts elements for each of the uniqueclients, whereby the new fraud alert elements are used to deny one ormore transactions associated with each of the unique clients.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method may includegenerating, by a computer, a session record for a web-based interactionbetween a client computer and a webserver. The session record mayinclude one or more session attributes comprising at least a deviceidentifier uniquely identifying the client computer. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include identifying, by thecomputer, in an integrated database an integrated alert having a datafield containing the device identifier and having a data fieldindicating that the integrated alert was associated with fraud. Theintegrated database may contain a plurality of integrated alertsassociated respectively with a plurality of customer identifiers. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include tagging, by thecomputer, the session record having the one or more session attributesupon the computer identifying the integrated alert containing the deviceidentifier. The computer-implemented method may further includeidentifying, by the computer, one or more session records of one or moreclients having session attributes matching with the one or more sessionattributes of the tagged session record using the one or more sessionattributes from the tagged session record.

In another embodiment, a fraud prevention system may include a clientcomputer, a webserver, and an integrated database containing a pluralityof integrated alerts associated respectively with a plurality ofcustomer identifiers. The system may further include a computerconfigured to generate a session record for a web-based interactionbetween the client computer and the webserver. The session record mayinclude one or more session attributes comprising at least a deviceidentifier uniquely identifying the client computer. The system mayfurther include a computer configured to identify in the integrateddatabase an integrated alert having a data field containing the deviceidentification pattern and having a data field indicating that theintegrated alert was associated with fraud. The system may furtherinclude a computer configured to tag the session record having the oneor more session attributes upon the computer identifying the integratedalert containing the device identification pattern. The system mayfurther include a computer configured to identify one or more sessionrecords of one or more clients having session attributes matching withthe one or more session attributes of the tagged session record usingthe one or more session attributes from the tagged session record.

In another embodiment, a computer-implemented method may includegenerating, by a computer, a session record for a web-based interactionbetween a client computer and a webserver. The session record mayinclude one or more session attributes comprising a pattern for uniquelyidentifying the client computer. The computer-implemented method mayfurther include identifying, by the computer, one or more sessionrecords of one or more clients having session attributes matching withthe one or more session attributes of the session record. Thecomputer-implemented method may further include identifying, by thecomputer, a number of session attributes for each of the one or moresession records of the one or more clients matching with the one or moresession attributes of the session record. The computer-implementedmethod may further include determining, by the computer, a thresholdvalue for each of the number of session attributes of the one or moresession records of the one or more clients that matches with the one ormore session attributes of the session record based on pre-definedthreshold criteria. The computer-implemented method may further includedetermining, by the computer, a probability score for likelihood offraud in each of the one or more session records based on the thresholdvalue for each of the number of session attributes of the one or moresession records that matches with the one or more session attributes ofthe session record. The computer-implemented method may further includegenerating, by the computer, a new fraud alert element for clients ofeach of the one or more session records based on the probability scorefor the likelihood of fraud in each of the one or more session records,whereby the new fraud alert element is used to deny one or moretransactions associated with each clients.

In another embodiment, a fraud prevention system may include a clientcomputer, a webserver, and a computer. The computer is configured togenerate a session record for a web-based interaction between the clientcomputer and the webserver. The session record may include one or moresession attributes comprising a pattern for uniquely identifying theclient computer. The computer may further be configured to identify oneor more session records of one or more clients having session attributesmatching with the one or more session attributes of the session record.The computer may further be configured to identify a number of sessionattributes for each of the one or more session records of the one ormore clients matching with the one or more session attributes of thesession record. The computer may further be configured to determine athreshold value for each of the number of session attributes of the oneor more session records of the one or more clients that matches with theone or more session attributes of the session record based onpre-defined threshold criteria. The computer may further be configuredto determine a probability score for likelihood of a fraud in each ofthe one or more session records based on the threshold value for each ofthe number of session attributes of the one or more session records thatmatches with the one or more session attributes of the session record.The computer may further be configured to generate new fraud alertelement for client of each of the one or more session records based onthe probability score for the likelihood of fraud in each of the one ormore session records, whereby the new fraud alert element is used todeny one or more transactions associated with each clients.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and areintended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings constitute a part of this specification andillustrate embodiments that, together with the specification, explainthe subject matter.

FIG. 1 shows components of a fraud prevention system, according to anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows execution of a method for generating one alert for acustomer based on multiple possible fraud events for the customer,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows a scenario example of movement of integrated alerts inorder to be addressed by an analyst, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 4 shows a scenario example of movement of integrated alerts inorder to be addressed by an analyst, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

FIG. 5 shows execution of a method of risk management for detectingfraud, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 shows execution of a method for prioritization of issues in analert queue by generating and updating risk score for alerts, accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows execution of a method for automated regression model todetect fraud by analyzing web logs to find matching web-connectionsessions based on dynamically generated attributes of any number ofsessions, according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 8 shows execution of a method for automated tagging of attributesin all transactions when attributes appears in a fraudulent transactionin order to retroactively or proactively identify possible fraud events,according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 9 shows execution of a method to assess likelihood of fraud in eachsession using associated attribute thresholds, according to an exemplaryembodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made to the illustrative embodiments illustratedin the drawings, and specific language will be used here to describe thesame. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scopeof the claims or this disclosure is thereby intended. Alterations andfurther modifications of the inventive features illustrated herein, andadditional applications of the principles of the subject matterillustrated herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant artand having possession of this disclosure, are to be considered withinthe scope of the subject matter disclosed herein. The present disclosureis here described in detail with reference to embodiments illustrated inthe drawings, which form a part here. Other embodiments may be usedand/or other changes may be made without departing from the spirit orscope of the present disclosure. The illustrative embodiments describedin the detailed description are not meant to be limiting of the subjectmatter presented here.

FIG. 1 shows components of a fraud prevention system 100, according toan exemplary embodiment. The fraud prevention system 100 may includesecurity servers 101, a system database 102, alert element databases103, integrated alert databases 104, alert-generating systems 105,analyst computers 107, customer service representative (CSR) computers109, and customer devices 111. The security servers 101, the systemdatabase 102, the alert element databases 103, the integrated alertdatabases 104, the alert-generating systems 105, the analyst computers107, the customer service representative (CSR) computers 109, and thecustomer devices 111 are connected to each other through a network 112.The examples of the network 112 may include, but are not limited to,private or public LAN, WLAN, MAN, WAN, and the Internet. The network 112may include both wired and wireless communications according to one ormore standards and/or via one or more transport mediums. Thecommunication over the network 112 may be performed in accordance withvarious communication protocols such as Transmission Control Protocoland Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and IEEEcommunication protocols. In one example, the network 112 may includewireless communications according to Bluetooth specification sets, oranother standard or proprietary wireless communication protocol. Inanother example, the network 112 may also include communications over acellular network, including, e.g. a GSM (Global System for MobileCommunications), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), EDGE (EnhancedData for Global Evolution) network.

In operation, alert-generating systems 105 may generate alert elementscontaining various data fields indicating threats of fraud or attemptsto penetrate an enterprise network 112, and indicating one or moreparticular customers of the system 100 associated with an alert element(often the target of a type of fraud). Hereinafter, the term“customers,” “clients,” “customers,” and “users” may be interchangeablyused. The alert elements may be stored into an alert element database103 to await further processing. A security server 101 may performvarious processes using the alert elements, such as determining whetherthe alert elements contain attributes matching attributes of one or morescenarios. Using the alert elements stored in the alert element database103, the security server 101 may then generate integrated alerts thatare associated with the customers of the system 100, and then store theintegrated alerts into an integrated alert database 104. The securityserver 101 may generate a risk score for the integrated alerts, whichthe security server 101 uses to store and sort the integrated alertsaccording to a priority, based on the relative risk scores. Analystcomputers 107 may query and fetch integrated alerts from the integratedalert database 104, and then present the integrate alerts to beaddressed by an analyst according to the priority level of therespective integrated alerts. Periodically or in response to triggeringcondition, the security server 101 may update the risk scores of theintegrated alerts in the integrate alert database 104 as more alertelements are received from the alert-generating systems 105. Inresponse, the analyst queue may be adjusted to reflect the updated riskscores of the integrated alerts in the integrated alert database 104.Analyst computers 107 may then be configured to execute one or moreinstructions on the respective integrated alerts based on the prioritylevel of the respective integrated alerts and/or the updated prioritylevel of the integrated alerts based on updated risk scores of theintegrated alerts in the integrated alert database 104. The one or moreinstructions are configured to initiate processing of the various datafields corresponding to the integrated alerts indicating threats offraud or attempts, and depending on results of the processing of thedata fields, the analyst computers 107 may then cause to terminate anaccount and/or a transaction of the customer associated with theintegrated alert.

In some implementations, the analyst computer 107 may generate ananalyst queue model that includes queues that each contains one or moreintegrated alerts. The queues may be populated from the integratedalerts stored in the integrate alert database 104 received from anautomated system 100 having the alert-generating systems 105 that areoperable to track, monitor, and flag for potentially fraudulentactivity. Each queue generated by the analyst computer 107 contains theintegrated alerts of a certain risk level from various customers. Arisk-level may be determined by computing devices of the automatedsystem 100 based on how likely fraudulent activity associated with theintegrated alert is to have occurred and/or the frequency of potentiallyfraudulent activity associated with the integrated alert for aparticular customer. In yet another alternative embodiment, a queue maycontain the integrated alerts based on other attributes, such as thecustomer information and/or the potentially fraudulent activity.

Security servers 101 may be any computing device comprising a processorand non-transitory machine-readable storage medium and capable ofperforming the various tasks and processes described herein duringexecution. Non-limiting examples of the security server 101 may includea desktop computer, a server computer, a laptop computer, a tabletcomputer, and the like. For ease of explanation, FIG. 1 shows a singlecomputing device functioning as the security server 101. However, itshould be appreciated that some embodiments may comprise any number ofcomputing devices capable of performing the various tasks describedherein.

A security server 101 may receive alert elements from various types ofalert-generating systems 105 or a CSR computer 109. The alert elementsmay be log files or other machine-readable code containing various datafields describing a detected event associated with the data channel. Forinstance, a webserver 105 b may require users to authenticate as valid,recognized customers of the enterprise system 100. The webserver 105 bmay generate an authentication-failure alert element upon receivingimproper authentication credentials from a customer device 111. The datafields of an authentication-failure alert element may contain datafields associated with the detected event, such as data fieldsdescribing the source device and data fields describing the particularcustomer account the user was attempting to access. Upon receiving thealert elements, the security server 101 or any other server of thesystem 100 may associate the alert elements with a customer accountbased on the data fields of the alert elements. The alert elements may,for example, contain a data field indicating a customer identifier valuethat is unique to the customer. The security server 101 may store thealert elements into an alert-element database 103. Simultaneously or atsome other time, the security server 101 may generate or update anintegrated alert for the customer identifier, where the integrated alertis a log file or any other machine-readable code containing data fieldsthat are populated with data that is based on the alert elementsassociated with the alert elements associated with the same customeridentifier. Regardless of the number of alert elements received for acustomer identifier from the alert-generating systems 105 or CSRcomputers 109, the integrated alert database 104 contains only a singleintegrated alert for the particular customer identifier.

A security server 101 may be coupled to one or more alert-generatingsystems 105 via one or more internal or external networks 112. Thesecurity server 101 may execute various processes on incoming alertelements received from the alert-generating systems 105, such as datafield formatting, identifying an associated customer, or determining aparticular scenario having attributes matched to the alert element. Insome implementations, the security server 101 may comprise a set of oneor more scenario attribute models that may indicate to the securityserver 101 whether a particular type of fraud or attack is potentiallydetected or ongoing. Scenario models may be computer files stored on thesecurity server 101 or separate database device, such as a systemdatabase 102, and comprise a set of alert element attributes thatindicate a type of scenario of potential fraud or attack. In suchimplementations, the security server 101 may identify data field entriesin the incoming alert elements to identify one or more matches tocorresponding attributes in the scenario models. In some cases, thesecurity server 101 may generate or update an integrated alert uponreceiving and identifying that an alert element matches a particularscenario. To tailor which alert elements or types of alert elementstrigger the security server 101 processing, the security server 101 maydismiss or otherwise delete an alert element from the alert elementdatabase 103 when the security server 101 does not identify a scenariohaving attributes that capture a threshold number of data fields in thealert element.

A security server 101 may determine a risk score for each integratedalert stored in an integrated alert database 104. The risk score of anintegrate alert is based on an algorithm that the security server 101,or any other server of the system 100, applies to the data fields of thealert elements underlying the particular integrated alert. The securityserver 101 may determine a risk score for each integrated alert based onan algorithm such as a non-linear statistical data model that calculatesthe risk score associated with the fraud or attack. Such non-linearstatistical data models may include neural networks, decision trees,Bayesian networks, genetic algorithms, and several other types ofnon-linear statistical data models. The non-linear statistical datamodel used by the security server 101 may be a neural network. Neuralnetworks have numerous applications, such as being used to determinecustomers' credit scores based on information about the customers, suchas number of credit cards, late payments, income, etc.

A security server 101 may determine a risk score for each integratedalert based at least on a fraud probability score, potential loss,sequence score, and save-loss ratio of the data fields of the alertelements underlying the particular integrated alert. For instance, whenthe data fields of the alert elements underlying the particularintegrated alert correspond to the remote network logon logs of thecustomer for suspicious access attempts, the security server 101 mayapply a fraud probability score based rule to review and flag thatparticular integrated alert as non-suspicious after having determinedthat the customer is legitimately logging in from a different geographiclocation. The security server 101 can learn the customer's behavior overtime and ultimately score this event with a much lower risk scorecompared with a customer who does not travel. The security server 101may also be able to compare the different geographic regions. Forexample, a customer who is known to travel occasionally to France maystill generate a higher-level risk score when an access is attemptedfrom a geographic zone that may not have been previously associated withthe customer.

The security server 101 may determine a fraud probability score based onscenarios applied to the data fields of the alert elements underlyingthe particular integrated alert. In one example scenario, when thewebserver 105 b determines that a user fails multiple times toauthenticate himself or herself as valid and recognized customer of theenterprise system 100, the security server 101 may determine aprobability of fraud (e.g., 25% probability) based on historical data.In another example scenario, when the webserver 105 b determines that auser authenticate as a valid, recognized customer of the enterprisesystem after multiple attempts, and there is a suspicious deposit in theaccount that the user accessed after multiple login attempts, thesecurity server 101 may determine a higher probability of fraud (forexample, 60% probability) based on the historical data, because therewere two events that occurred together (multiple attempt authenticationand suspicious deposit event). The security server 101 may then use thevalues of the fraud probability score of the data fields of the alertelements underlying the particular integrated alert to calculate therisk score of the particular integrate alert.

In some embodiments, the security server 101 may initially determine afraud probability score in order to calculate a risk score of anintegrated alert. Based on the value of the fraud probability score, thesecurity server 101 may then determine potential loss that is also usedto calculate the risk score of the integrate alert. In one instance, thesecurity server 101 may determine potential loss based on value of thefraud probability score such that the value of the potential loss isproportional to the value of the fraud probability score. As an example,a higher value of the fraud probability score may correspond to a highervalue of the potential loss. In another instance, the security server101 may determine the potential loss based on a financial data of thecustomer. For example, the security server 101 may determine totalfinancial assets of the customer stored in the system database 102. Thetotal assets of the customer may include available credit throughconsumer lending, credit cards, home equity lines of credit, mutualfunds, brokerage accounts, and other financial data available for thecustomer. The security server 101 may then analyze the financial data ofthe customer to determine the potential loss where the probability ofpotential loss becomes higher when the customer has substantialfinancial assets and money since a fraudster may get the money out fromthe customer financial accounts. The security server 101 may then usethe values of the fraud probability score and the potential loss tocalculate the risk score of the integrate alert.

The security server 101 may also determine a sequence score based on thedata fields of the alert elements underlying a particular integratedalert in order to calculate the risk score of the particular integratealert. The security server 101 may calculate the sequence score based ondifferent scenarios associated with the alert elements underlying theparticular integrated alert. The security server 101 may initiallyidentify integrated alerts for customers that have multiple scenariosthat trigger for the integrated alerts. Upon the identification of theintegrated alerts for customers that have multiple scenarios thattrigger for the integrated alerts, the security server 101 may thenidentity the timestamps between all those integrated alerts andcalculate the difference between the timestamps all those integratedalerts. Using these difference values between the timestamps, thesecurity server 101 may then determine that a particular integratedalert is generated prior to or after other integrated alerts. Thesecurity server 101 may then use these difference values between thetimestamps to determine a sequence score for this particular integratedalert. The security server 101 may determine a sequence score for thisparticular integrated alert between a predetermine range. For example,the security server 101 may determine the sequence score between anegative three and a positive three.

In some embodiments, the security server 101 may use a brute forcetechnique for calculating the difference values between the timestampsacross all possible scenario combinations that generated the alertelements underlying the particular integrated alert, such as anauthentication-related scenario and a fraudulent deposit relatedscenario. In an example, the security server 101 may initially performpairing of alert elements among all alert elements underlying aparticular integrated alert. For example, the security server 101 mayidentify any two alert elements, such as alert A and alert B, among allalert elements underlying the particular integrated alert. Alert A andalert B are differenced in the time stamps where alert A occurred a fewhours (e.g., 6 hours) before alert B. The security server 101 may thenidentify a time scenario alert A was generated, and then the securityserver 101 may determine data associated with alert A and compare it toall the other scenarios to generate a summary statistics having asequence score corresponding to alert A. In the summary statistics, ifthe security server 101 determines that a given scenario for alert A hasa negative value number, the alert A on average may be occurring beforeall the other alert elements, and if the alert A has a positive valuenumber, alert A may be occurring after the other alert elements. Thesecurity server 101 may then use the value of sequence score along withthe values of the fraud probability score and the potential loss inorder to calculate the risk score of this particular integrated alert.In one embodiment, when the security server 101 determines a high valuesequence score for the particular integrate alert, the security server101 may offset the low fraud probability score determined for theparticular integrate alert in order to calculate the risk score of thisparticular integrate alert. In another embodiment, when the securityserver 101 determines a high value sequence score for the particularintegrate alert, the security server 101 may not offset the low fraudprobability score determined for the particular integrate alert in orderto calculate the risk score of this particular integrate alert.

The security server 101 may also determine a save-loss score based onthe data fields of the alert elements underlying a particular integratedalert in order to calculate the risk score of the particular integratealert. The security server 101 may calculate the save-loss score basedon financial information/data of the customer. For instance, thesecurity server 101 upon determining that a fraud alert event hasoccurred where the money is lost from the customer account, based onfinancial information of the customer, the security server 101 maydetermine an amount of money lost, an amount of money recovered byrecovery agents, and an amount of money prevented from being lost. Uponthe determination of the amount of money lost, the amount of moneyrecovered, and the amount of money prevented from being lost, thesecurity server 101 may then determine a save-loss score, which is aratio of outcome of action to outcome of inaction where the outcome ofaction means that the security server 101 addressed the fraud alertevent and outcome of the inaction means that the security server 101 didnot addressed the fraud alert event. Based on a ratio of the outcome ofaction to the outcome of inaction, the security server 101 may determinescenarios associated with the fraud alert event where there arerelatively high recovery amounts and high prevented amounts in arelationship to the loss. The security server 101 may then use the valueof saved-loss score along with the values of the sequence score, thefraud probability score, and the potential loss to calculate the riskscore of this particular integrated alert. In an alternative embodiment,the save-loss value may be determined by calculating a ratio of outcomeof inaction to outcome of action. The ratio of the outcome of inactionto the outcome of action may be equal to the ratio of a sum of an amountof money lost and an amount of money recovered and an amount of moneyprevented from being lost to an amount of money lost.

In some embodiment, a risk score for each integrated alert determinedbased at least on a fraud probability score, a potential loss, asequence score, and a save-loss ratio and stored in an integrated alertdatabase 104 can be expressed as a percentage, with higher percentagesindicating higher risk. In some cases, a security server 101 maygenerate or update the risk score for each integrated alert at apredetermined interval (e.g., every 5 minutes); and, in some cases, thesecurity server 101 may generate or update the risk score for eachintegrated alert in response to a triggering event, such as receiving anew alert element for the customer identifier of the integrated alert orwhen a threshold number of alert elements have been received for acustomer identifier. The security server 101 or a server hosting theintegrated alert database 104 may sort the integrated alerts accordingto the risk score, such that the integrated alerts may be presented on agraphical user interface (GUI) of an analyst computer 107 in order ofpriority as indicated by the relative risk scores.

A security server 101 may identify a type of threat for an integratedalert based upon a set of model attributes indicating a potential fraudscenario. The type of threat identified and each of the integratedalerts is then stored into a sub-database of the integrated database 104according to the potential fraud scenario and sorted according to therelative risk score within the sub-database. In some embodiments, thesecurity server 101 or a server hosting the sub-database of theintegrated alert database 104 may update the risk score of theintegrated alert based on the type of threat and then sort theintegrated alerts according to the updated risk score, such that theintegrated alerts may be presented on a graphical user interface (GUI)of the analyst computer 107 in order of priority as indicated by theupdated relative risk scores. For instance, the security server 101 mayidentify a risk threat associated with the integrated alert based on itsunderlying alert elements to be a regulatory risk. In such a case, thesecurity server 101 will then identify rules related to the regulatoryrisk from a system database 102. As an example, the security server 101may determine that the integrated alerts associated with the regulatoryrisk may have to be addressed within a fixed time period (e.g., 72hours). In such instance, the security server 101 may start a timer onthe integrated alerts associated with the regulatory risk, and when thewaiting time spent to address the integrated alerts associated with theregulatory risk approaches the fixed time period (e.g., 72 hours), thesecurity server 101 may move the integrated alerts associated with theregulatory risk into a scenario that has higher priorities. In otherwords, although the integrated alert associated with a regulatory riskmay have lower risk financially, the security server 101 has toprioritize the addressing of the integrated alert associated with aregulatory risk in order to deal with the rules associated with theregulatory risk.

In another instance, upon receiving an application for a loan from acustomer, the security server 101 may apply fraud rules stored in asystem database 102 to the loan application request of the customer forbackground verification of the customer. Upon determining that thecustomer and/or data in the customer application is suspicious based onthe application of the fraud rules, the security server 101 will pausethe processing of the loan application of the customer and subsequentlydetermine other internal rules regarding the loan application suspicionrisk. As an example, the security server 101 may determine that theintegrated alerts generated based on the loan application suspicion riskhave to be addressed within a fixed period of time (e.g., 24 hours) asthe customer may potentially become a new client. In such instance, thesecurity server 101 may start a timer on this integrated alertassociated with the loan application suspicion risk, and when waitingtime spent to address this integrated alert associated with the loanapplication suspicion risk start getting close to their fixed timeperiod (e.g., 24 hours), the security server 101 moves this integratedalert into a scenario that has higher priorities. Although thisintegrated alert associated with a loan application suspicion risk maynot be a fraud event, the security server 101 has to prioritize thisintegrated alert associated with a loan application suspicion risk inorder to deal with the rules associated with application submitted bynew customer rules. After prioritizing the integrated alerts based onthe scenarios as discussed above, the security server 101 may thentransmit a prioritized integrated alert to the analyst computer 107associated with the set of analyst credentials with rights to access thesub-database containing the prioritized integrated alert.

A security server 101 may generate a session record for a web-basedinteraction between a client computer/customer device 111 and awebserver 105 b. The session record may comprise one or more sessionattributes containing data fields related to the interaction, such as asession identifier, a timestamp, a customer identifier, and sourcedevice identifier information uniquely identifying the customer device111 (e.g., IP address, MAC address). The security server 101 may capturedata for the session between the customer device 111 and the webserver105 b at different times of the interactions, such as capturing sourcedevice information from header portions of IP packets or customeridentifier information from an authentication attempt. In someinstances, a session may transition between channels. For example, asession may begin when a user accesses the website and is properlyauthenticated as a customer. In some embodiments, the security server101 may gather the session record that may contain data gathered throughthe web-based interactions from the customer device 111 and thetelephone-based interaction from the CSR computer 109 and/or IVR system.The security server 101 may then store the session records gathered bythe security server 101 locally or in a database hosted on any serverwithin the network 112.

In some embodiments, after the generation of the session recordcomprising source device identifier information, the security server 101may then identify an integrated alert having a data field containing thedevice identifier information uniquely identifying the customer device111 in the integrated alert database 104 obtained from the sessionrecord. The integrated alert may have a data field indicating that theintegrated alert was associated with fraud. The security server 101 mayfurther identify one or more other session records of one or more otherclients having session attributes matching with the one or more sessionattributes of the session record containing the device identifierinformation uniquely identifying the customer device 111. The securityserver 101 then generates a session attribute model. The sessionattribute model may identify a number of session attributes of the oneor more other session records of the one or more other clients matchingwith the one or more session attributes of the session record. Based onthe session attribute model, the security server 101 may then determinea total number of clients from the one or more other clients across theone or more other session records that match with the one or moresession attributes of the session record. The security server 101 maythen determine whether the total number of clients from the one or moreother clients across the one or more session records that matches withthe one or more session attributes of the session record is greater thana predetermined threshold number. Upon the determination that the totalnumber of clients from the one or more other clients across the one ormore session records that matches with the one or more sessionattributes of the session record is greater than a predeterminedthreshold number, the security server 101 may then determine whether thenumber of session attributes of the one or more session records of theone or more other clients that matches with the one or more sessionattributes of the session record is in a whitelist record.Alternatively, upon the security server 101 determining that the numberof session attributes of the one or more session records of one or moreother clients that matches with the one or more session attributes ofthe session record are not in the whitelist record, the security server101 updates the whitelist by adding the number of session attributes ofthe one or more session records of one or more clients that matches withthe one or more session attributes of the session record into thewhitelist record.

The integrated alert database 104 or a separate database may include awhitelist record and a blacklist record. The security server 101 maygenerate whitelist records and blacklist records based on classificationof an incoming query and store in the integrated alert database 104. Thequery is classified based on an IP address and/or device ID, which maybe performed in numerous ways. For example, an IP address and device IDpair associated with known registered client/customer can be whitelisted(e.g., identified in the whitelist record). The query can be classifiedby consulting a record of previous classifications made to queries withthe same IP address and device ID. The whitelist record may include alist of authorized IP addresses (an attribute of a session record), andthe blacklist record may include a list of un-authorized IP addresses.The set of one or more acceptable and authorized IP addresses of thewhitelist record are predetermined to satisfy the safety acceptabilitythreshold required by the system 100. During operation, in order toverify a unique IP address (a session attribute) from the one or moresession records of one or more other clients that matches with the oneor more session attributes of the session record, the security server101 may first query the whitelist record hosted by the integrated alertdatabase 104 or a separate database of the system 100. Upon determiningthat the inputted IP address is present in the whitelist, the securityserver 101 may automatically forge determination of creditability of theunique IP address that is matched to an acceptable IP address in thewhitelist record.

A security server 101 may be configured to receive a record of afraudulent transaction associated with a client from a system database102. The system database 102 may transmit the record of the fraudulenttransaction associated with the client to the security server 101 onreceiving a request from the security server 101. Alternatively, thesystem database 102 may automatically and periodically transmit therecord of the fraudulent transaction associated with the client to thesecurity server 101. These fraudulent transactions present in the systemdatabase 102 may be identified by a third-party payment server 105 aassociated with a payment or transaction system that conducts payment ortransactions operated by payment services systems. The third-partypayment server 105 a may identify such fraudulent transactions whentransaction amount is above a threshold amount or an average amount tocomputing devices. The third-party payment server 105 a may publishpayment status records and transaction information in the record of thefraudulent transaction associated with the client in the system database102.

The security server 101 upon receiving the record of the fraudulenttransaction associated with the client may then determine one or moreattributes corresponding to the fraudulent transaction associated withthe client. The one or more attributes corresponding to the fraudulenttransaction associated with the client may include a transaction amount,a transaction date, and a transaction time. After the determination ofthe attributes corresponding to the fraudulent transaction, the securityserver 101 tag attributes in all transactions that match with the one ormore attributes corresponding to the fraudulent transaction associatedwith the client. The security server 101 stores the tagged attributesinto a tag table within the system database 102. Subsequently, thesecurity server 101 may identify a session record that may include oneor more session attributes that match with the tagged attributescorresponding to the fraudulent transaction associated with the client.In an embodiment, the session record may be a web-based interactionbetween a client computer and a webserver and may include a sessionidentifier, a timestamp, and a customer identifier. The one or moresession attributes of the session record may include at least a deviceidentifier uniquely identifying the client computer. The deviceidentifier uniquely identifying the client computer may be selected froma group consisting at least one of a phone number, an IP address, and adevice ID.

The security server 101 upon identifying the session record that mayinclude one or more session attributes that match with the taggedattributes corresponding to the fraudulent transaction associated withthe client, further determines one or more other session recordsassociated with one or more clients having session attributes matchingwith the one or more session attributes of the session record. Upon theidentification of one or more session records associated with the one ormore clients have the session attributes that match the one or moresession attributes of the session record, the security server 101determines a total number of clients from the one or more clients acrossthe one or more session records that are unique. New fraud alertselements are then generated by the security server 101 for each of theunique clients. The security server 101 generates new fraud alertelements, which may include data fields containing data corresponding totheir associated customer identifier. The new fraud alert elementsgenerated by the security server 101 may also include log files and/ormachine-readable code containing data fields describing a detectedfraudulent event associated with a data channel.

Alert-generating systems 105 may be computing systems capable ofgenerating alert elements. In some embodiments, the alert-generatingsystems 105 may be alert-generating devices such as computing devicescomprising a processor capable of generating alert elements withoutlimiting the scope of the present disclosure. These computing devicesmay operate independently or be associated with the CSR computer or thesecurity server 101. For instance, the exemplary system 100 in FIG. 1shows three alert-generating systems 105: a third-party payment server105 a, a webserver 105 b, and security devices 105 c. However, it shouldbe appreciated that other embodiments may comprise additional oralternative types of devices, or may omit one or more of thealert-generating systems 105 described herein.

The alert-generating systems 105 may be coupled to a security server 101via one or more networks 112 and networking devices. In some instances,an alert-generating system 105 may be within the logical boundaries ofan enterprise network, such as a webserver 105 b, or may be a gatewaydevice, such as a network security device 105 c (e.g., firewall, proxyserver). Additionally, in some cases, an alert-generating system 105 maybe a device that is external to the enterprise network, such as athird-party payment server 105 a (e.g., FedWire, SWIFT, ACH). Thealert-generating system 105 may generate alert elements containing datafields that are associated with the communication channel and type ofalert-generating system 105. For example, a third-party payment server105 a may generate an alert element containing data elements related tomoney transfers or transaction requests, such as account identifiers,customer identifiers, a timestamp, and the amount of money at issue.

As described earlier, the exemplary system 100 in FIG. 1 shows threealert-generating systems 105: a third-party payment server 105 a, awebserver 105 b, and security devices 105 c. A third-party paymentserver 105 a may be a server associated with a payment or transactionsystem that conducts payment or transactions operated by paymentservices systems, such as the Society for Worldwide Interbank FinancialTelecommunication (SWIFT), Fedwire, and the Automated Clearing House(ACH), among others. Although a third-party payment server 105 a isshown in FIG. 1, one having skill in the art would appreciate thatembodiments may comprise any number of third-party payment servers 105 aoperated by any number of payment services. The third-party paymentserver 105 a may be external to the enterprise network and may becoupled via one or more networks 112 to the security server 101, networknodes, or other computing devices internal to the enterprise network.The third-party payment server 105 a may publish payment status recordsof customers and transmit alert-elements indicating various transactioninformation according to certain thresholds or predetermined rules, suchas generating an alert-element when an irregular transaction amount isidentified above a threshold amount or an average amount to computingdevices such as the security server 101, network nodes, or other serversof the system 100. These alert elements may be transmitted tosubscribing computing devices over one or more networks 112, such asInternet Protocol (IP) based networks and/or telecommunicationsnetworks, and formatted with particular data structures according to theparticular standards used by the system hosting the third-party paymentserver 105 a.

In some embodiments, a security server 101 may monitor or otherwisesubscribe to alert elements generated and published by the third-partypayment server 105 a. The third-party payment server 105 a maycommunicate the alert elements with the security server 101 over the oneor more networks 112, using any number compatible data formats andprotocols. The alert elements may indicate the status of paymentstransactions, such as an irregular transaction amount is identifiedabove a threshold amount or an average amount. The security server 101may use the alert elements data to update customer transaction recordsstored in a system database 102 and generate/update integrated alertsbased on these new alert elements. In some cases, the alert elementsand/or the transaction data that the security server 101 receives fromthe third-party payment server 105 a may trigger execution of priorityalert generation that instruct the security server 101 to execute one ormore processes, such as generating and transmitting notifications toanalysts computers 107 and updating records in the alert elementdatabases 103 and/or integrated alert databases 104, among otherprocesses.

A webserver 105 b may be any computing device hosting a websiteaccessible to customer devices 111 via the Internet. The webserver 105 bmay be any computing device comprising a processor and non-transitorymachine-readable storage capable of executing the various tasks andprocesses described herein. Non-limiting examples of such computingdevices may include workstation computers, laptop computers, servercomputers, laptop computers, and the like. While the exemplary system100 includes a single webserver 105 b, one having skill in the art wouldappreciate that in some embodiments the webserver 105 b may include anynumber of computing devices operating in a distributed computingenvironment.

The webserver 105 b may execute software applications configured to hosta website (e.g., Apache®, Microsoft IIS®), which may generate and servevarious webpages to customer devices 111. The website may be used togenerate and access data stored on a system database. In someimplementations, the webserver 105 b may be configured to require userauthentication based upon a set of user authorization credentials (e.g.,username, password, biometrics, cryptographic certificate). In suchimplementations, the webserver 105 b may access a system database 102configured to store user credentials, which the webserver 105 b may beconfigured to reference in order to determine whether a set of enteredcredentials purportedly authenticating the user match an appropriate setof credentials that identify and authenticate the user. Similarly, insome implementations, the webserver 105 b may generate and servewebpages to the customer devices 111 based upon a customer role (e.g.,administrator, investor) within the system 100. In such implementations,the customer role may be defined by data fields in customer recordsstored in the system database 102, and authentication of the user anduser role may be conducted by the webserver 105 b by executing an accessdirectory protocol. The webserver 105 b may then be instructed togenerate webpage content, access or generate data stored in the systemdatabase 102, according to the user role defined by the user record inthe system database 102.

In some embodiments, as the webserver 105 b may require users toauthenticate using credentials that identify a user as a valid customerof the enterprise system 100, the webserver 105 b may generatealert-elements related to user's interactions with the website hosted bythe webserver 105 b. For example, the webserver 105 b may generate thealert-elements indicating a failed authentication attempt received froma customer device 111. As another example, the webserver 105 b maygenerate the alert-elements when the user performs or otherwise requestsunusual actions. For instance, the user may open multiple new accountsassociated with a customer identifier, or the user may move unusuallylarge amounts of money between accounts or to accounts at a differentfinancial institution. In such cases, the webserver 105 b, a securityserver 101, or other server of the enterprise system 100 may generate amodel for typical or atypical behaviors of the particular customer. Themodel, for example, may indicate an average or threshold amount of moneythat may be involved in a transaction based on an average amount thatthe customer moves or based on a preset amount inputted by the customeror system administrator. It should be appreciated that these are onlyexamples of the alert-elements that may be generated by the webserver105 b, and the webserver 105 b may generate the alert-elements for anynumber of interactions with the website.

In some embodiments, a webserver 105 b, or other server of the system100, may generate session records for an interaction between thecustomer device 111 and the webserver 105 b. A session record maycontain data fields related to the interaction, such as a sessionidentifier, a timestamp, a customer identifier, and source deviceinformation identifying the customer device 111 (e.g., IP address, MACaddress). The webserver 105 b may store the session records locally orin a database hosted on any server within the enterprise network. Thewebserver 105 b may capture data for the session at different times ofthe interactions, such as capturing source device information fromheader portions of IP packets, or customer identifier information froman authentication attempt. In some instances, a session may transitionbetween channels. For example, a session may begin when a user accessesthe website and is properly authenticated as a customer. The user maythen experience difficulties in accessing certain features or mayidentify certain irregularities in their account information, promptingthe user to contact a CSR over the telephone. The session informationfor that additional contact may continue as the session transitions froma web-based channel to a telephone-based channel. The CSR may inputvarious information fields into a GUI presented on a CSR computer 109,such as the purported customer who is contacting the CSR and sourcedevice information. In some instances, customer identifier data and/orsource device information may be received through an automatedinteractive voice response (IVR) server (not shown) of a helpdeskportion of the system 100. The session record may contain data gatheredthrough the web-based interactions from customer device 111 and thetelephone-based interaction from the CSR computer 109 and/or IVR system.

Security devices 105 c may be any computing device of the enterprisenetwork that supports network security and network traffic managementefforts. Non-limiting examples of security devices 105 c may include aproxy server, a firewall, an intrusion detection device, and the like.The security device 105 c may generate an alert element in response toperforming a security function, such as blocking data traffic from aparticular source IP address or device, based on configurations of thesecurity device 105 c.

In some embodiments, security devices 105 c may be a proxy server thatmay be a computing device, such as a server, configured to managenetwork communications between the enterprise network computing devices,such as customer devices 111 and external resources accessible via thenetwork 112, such as websites or web-based applications hosted onexternal servers. The proxy server may provide a proxy gateway in effectwhen the communications inside or outside of the system 100 areprohibited. The proxy server may receive web-service queries from pluralcustomer devices 111 and operates to transfer the received web-servicequeries to external servers for providing a target service the customerdevices 111 would like to reach.

In some implementations, the proxy server may receive a web-servicequery from the customer devices 111. The proxy server uses the IPaddress that corresponds to the physical address of the customer devices111 for the communications with the customer devices 111. The proxyserver may have a function of relaying a customer's access to a resourceor the data of a website, for example. The customer devices 111communicate with the proxy server without direct communications with theexternal servers. The proxy server may review and filter data trafficwith web-based resources, provide anonymity to customer devices 111, andlog data traffic (e.g., inbound and outbound web-service requests).During operation, the proxy server may capture header informationregarding the source customer device 111 to determine whether to permitor block incoming data traffic based on which the security device 105 c,such as the proxy server, may then generate alert elements and thentransmit alert elements that are then stored into an alert elementdatabase 103.

A CSR computer 109 may be any computing device comprising a processorand capable of performing the various processes and tasks describedherein. The CSR computer 109 may be coupled to helpdesk software, suchas queuing system or IVR system, such that the CSR computer 109 allows aCSR to interact with a caller over the phone, but can also capturetelephony information regarding an ongoing call. The CSR computer 109may produce an interactive graphical user interface (GUI) that allowsthe CSR to navigate the website and account information for a caller, ifthe caller is an authenticated customer, and may allow the CSR togenerate, update, and monitor records or “tickets” of ongoing helpdeskrequests for caller concerns. The software executed by the CSR computer109 may also automatically, or through a user-driven input, generatealert elements associated with a customer identifier. These alertelements may then be stored into an alert element database 103.

Analyst computers 107 may be computing devices that fraud or securityengineering analysts may use to identify and mitigate fraud or securitythreats. An analyst computer 107 may be any computing comprising aprocessor and capable of performing the various tasks and processesdescribed herein. Non-limiting examples of an analyst computer 107 mayinclude laptops, desktops, servers, tablets, and smartphones. An analystcomputer 107 may be coupled via one or more internal or externalnetworks to an integrated alert database 104. Software executed by theanalyst computer 107 permits an analyst to select an integrated alertfrom the integrated alert database 104 and then review or update datastored in the database record for the selected integrated alert.Conventional approaches would allow an analyst to select which alertelement to address next from a queue. However, such approaches are oftenineffective or inefficient; a user-selected alert element may not be thehighest priority item, the alert element may be redundant or otherwiserelated to another alert element that was already resolved, or the alertelement may be unrelated to the expertise of the analyst. Based on arisk score calculated for integrated alerts, the analyst computer 107presents an analyst with the integrated alert record to address next.The risk score can prioritize the queue for the analyst computer and cancontinuously update the risk score, and thus the prioritization, withinthe queue. Addressing an integrated alert can reduce queue volumebecause addressing an integrated alert can address multiple underlyingalert elements, thereby reducing the resources required to host anever-growing database of alerts.

The analyst computer 107 GUI may receive integrated alerts that arerelated to subject matter (e.g., type of threat) or procedural role(e.g., time-sensitive threat, backlog timing) of the respective analyst.In some implementations, integrated alerts may have a data fieldindicating identifying the nature of the potential threat and anotherdata field indicating a time-sensitive nature or customer-sensitivenature of the potential threat. Based on this data field, the analystcomputer 107 may receive integrated alerts having subject matter orprocedural data fields associated with the analyst credentials. Forinstance, the analyst credentials of an analyst specializing in timesensitive integrate alerts would indicate to the analyst computer 107that the analyst computer 107 should retrieve and present an integratedalerts having a data field indicating that the particular integratedalert is time sensitive. In some implementations, the integrated alertsmay be stored into dedicated databases or sub-databases of theintegrated alert database 104, where each sub-database is configured tostore integrated alerts with certain types of integrated alerts. In suchimplementations, the analyst computer 107 may be limited to accessingcertain sub-databases according to the analyst credentials of theanalyst operating the analyst computer 107. Similarly, the analystcomputer 107 may receive updates or notification messages that theanalyst computer 107 presents on a GUI to the analyst. A security server101, integrated database 104, or other server of the system 100 maytrigger and transmit the notification to each analyst computer 107having analyst credentials with access attributes indicating the role ofthe analyst. For instance, an analyst may have analyst credentials withattributes that indicate the analyst specializes in handlingtime-sensitive integrated alerts. When a new integrated alert isgenerated or an existing integrated alert is updated with a data fieldindicating the integrated alert is time sensitive, the security server101 or other device may transmit a notification message to the analystcomputer of the analyst computer 107.

In some implementations, an analyst computer 107 may have a GUI thatallows an analyst to mark or “tag” an integrated alert or alert element.A data field in the record of the integrated alert or alert element isthen updated to reflect the tag inputted by the analyst computer 107. Insome instances, the tag reflects an analyst's concern that an integratedalert or alert element may contain data fields that could becross-referenced and found in another integrated alert or alert element.The security server 101 or other server of the system 100 may thenperform various forms of processing on the data fields, such asidentifying which, if any, other integrated alerts or alert elementscontain the same data in corresponding data fields. In some embodiments,the security server 101, the analyst computer 107, or other device ofthe system 100 may execute various models that indicate to the securityserver 101 that an integrated alert or alert element should be “tagged.”Integrated alerts or alert elements may be tagged automatically whendata fields in an integrated alert or alert element matches a thresholdnumber of data fields of a given model.

The one or more alert-generating systems 105 may also include a casemanagement server (not shown) that may be a computing device, such as aserver, configured to host a case management database which may be aseparate database or a sub database within the system database 102. Thecase management database may be configured to store a plurality ofsecurity records such as a whitelist record and a blacklist record. Theplurality of security records may include characteristic informationabout suspect device IP address and/or device IDs that pass and fail acredibility threshold. In some embodiments, upon determining that thedevice IP address and/or device IDs fails an acceptability threshold ofrisk score, the security server 101 may update the whitelist recordand/or the blacklist record in the case management database with thedetails of the device IP address and/or device IDs that failed theacceptability threshold of their corresponding risk score. Afterupdating the case management database, the security server 101 maytransmit an alert to analyst computer 107 identifying the unique deviceIP address and/or device IDs that failed the acceptability threshold ofrisk score.

The one or more alert-generating systems 105 may also include networkingappliances (not shown) that may include any computing device capable ofgenerating and/or storing network logs, sometimes referred to as “logfiles.” The logs may be stored in any machine-readable format (e.g.,TXT, XML, HTML, Access Log, Common Log, W3C Log, WAS Log) and maycomprise various data fields containing data at various OSI layers frominbound IP packets (e.g., source IP address, source Domain Name, sourceMAC address, source device identifier). In some implementations, thelogs may be stored locally in the particular network appliance or devicethat generated the logs, such as proxy servers, routers, firewalls, andsecurity software applications configured to manage and track enterprisesecurity risks. In some implementations, the logs may be stored into asystem database 102 that is accessible to a security server 101 locally(on the same device) or via a network 112. The networking appliances maygenerate an alert element in response to performing a security function,such as blocking data traffic from a particular source Domain Name,source MAC address, and source device identifier.

Customer devices 111 may be any computing and/or telecommunicationsdevice comprising a processor and capable of performing the varioustasks and processes described herein, such as accessing a webserver 105b and providing a GUI interface to a user to interact with acustomer-centric website hosted on the webserver 105 b. Non-limitingexamples of a customer device 111 may include a telephone 111 a (e.g.,POTS landline telephone, cellular telephone, smartphone), a clientcomputer 111 b (e.g., desktop, laptop, server, tablet), or any othertelecommunications or computing device used to communicate withenterprise services.

In some embodiments, the customer device 111 may be any computing deviceallowing a customer to interact with the security server 101 via awebserver 105 b. The customer device 111 may execute an Internet browseror local application that access the webserver 105 b in order to issuerequests or instructions to the security server 101 to access the system100. The customer device 111 may transmit credentials from user inputsto the webserver 105 b, from which the webserver 105 b may authenticatethe user and, in some implementations, determine a user role. One havingskill in the art would appreciate that the customer device 111 maycomprise any number of input devices configured to receive any number ofdata inputs (e.g., mouse, keyboard, touchscreen, stylus), includingvarious types of data inputs allowing for authentication, e.g.,username, passwords, certificates, biometrics. One having skill in theart would also appreciate that the customer device 111 may be anycomputing device comprising a processor and non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium allowing the customer device 111 toperform the various tasks and processes described herein.

As an example of the customer device 111 operation, the customer device111 may execute an Internet browser that accesses a webserver 105 bhosting a website that allows for customers to access to their financialaccounts and allows promoters to advertise products to potentialcustomers. Using the customer device 111, a customer may select aproduct on the customer-centric website. As the transaction proceeds,the customer device 111 of the customer may be used uploadmachine-readable computer files (e.g., PDF, DOC, XSL) containingtransaction information. The computer files may be stored into documentrecords in the system database 102. The customer device 111 may issuequeries or instructions to the security server 101 via the webpagesgenerated by the webserver 105 b, which then instruct the securityserver 101 to perform various tasks, such as retrieving or updating afile from the system database 102.

Alert element databases 103 and/or integrated alert databases 104 may behosted on any server (such as a security server 101) and/oralert-generating systems 105 and are capable of storing the alertelements and/or integrated alert in plain format and/or encryptedversion containing data fields that are associated with thecommunication channel and type of alert-generating system. The alertelement databases 103 and/or integrated alert databases 104 may be incommunication with a processor of the security server 101 and/oralert-generating systems 105, where the processor is capable ofexecuting the various commands of the system 100. In some embodiments,the alert element databases 103 and/or integrated alert databases 104may be part of the security server 101. In some embodiments, the alertelement databases 103 and/or integrated alert databases 104 may be aseparate component in communication with the security server 101 and/oralert-generating systems 105.

The alert element databases 103 and/or integrated alert databases 104may be in communication to each other via the network 112 and include anon-transitory machine-readable storage media capable of receiving,storing, updating alert elements and/or integrated alert stored in thealert element databases 103 and/or integrated alert databases 104. Thealert element databases 103 and/or integrated alert databases 104 mayhave a logical construct of data files that are stored in non-transitorymachine-readable storage media, such as a hard disk or memory,controlled by software modules of a database program (for example, SQL),and a related database management system (DBMS) that executes the codemodules (for example, SQL scripts) for various data queries and othermanagement functions generated by the security server 101 and/oralert-generating systems 105.

In some embodiments, a memory of the alert element databases 103 and/orintegrated alert databases 104 may be a non-volatile storage device forstoring alert element data and instructions, to be used by a processorof the security server 101 and/or alert-generating systems 105. Thememory may be implemented with a magnetic disk drive, an optical diskdrive, a solid-state device, or an attachment to a network storage. Thememory may include one or more memory devices to facilitate storage andmanipulation of program code, set of instructions, tasks, data, PDKs,and the like. Non-limiting examples of memory implementations mayinclude, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM), a readonly memory (ROM), a hard disk drive (HDD), a secure digital (SD) card,a magneto-resistive read/write memory, an optical read/write memory, acache memory, or a magnetic read/write memory.

In some embodiments, a memory of alert element databases 103 and/orintegrated alert databases 104 may be a temporary memory, meaning that aprimary purpose of the memory is not long-term storage. Examples of thevolatile memories may include dynamic random access memories (DRAM),static random access memories (SRAM), and other forms of volatilememories known in the art. In some embodiments, the memory may beconfigured to store larger amounts of information than volatile memory.The memory may further be configured for long-term storage ofinformation. In some examples, the memory may include non-volatilestorage elements. Examples of such non-volatile storage elements includemagnetic hard discs, optical discs, floppy discs, flash memories, orforms of electrically programmable memories (EPROM) or electricallyerasable and programmable (EEPROM) memories.

A system database 102 may be hosted on one or more computing devices,where the system database 102 may store data records associated withvarious aspects of the application services offered to end customers.Non-limiting examples of what may be stored in the system database 102may include user records that may comprise data fields describing users,e.g., customer data, such as customer credentials (e.g., username,passwords, biometrics, encryption certificates), customer account data,customer roles, or customer permissions; document records that maycomprise machine-readable computer files (e.g., word processing files),parsed portions of such computer files, or metadata associated withcomputer files; and application data that may include softwareinstructions executed by a security server 101 or data used by the suchapplications executed by the security server 101. The system database102 may be hosted on any number of computing devices comprising anon-transitory machine-readable storage medium and capable of performingthe various tasks described herein. As shown in FIG. 1, the systemdatabase 102 may be accessed by the security server 101 and otherservers and devices of the system 100 via one or more networks 112. Thesystem database 102 may be hosted on the same physical computing devicefunctioning as the security server 101 and/or functioning as otherservers and devices of the system 100.

A case management database (not shown) may be hosted by a casemanagement server, which is one of the alert-generating systems 105. Thecase management database may be a separate database or a sub databasewithin a system database 102. The case management database is configuredto store a plurality of security records such as a whitelist record anda blacklist record. The plurality of security records may includecharacteristic information about suspect device IP address and/or deviceIDs that pass and fail a credibility threshold. In some embodiments,upon determining that the device IP address and/or device IDs fails anacceptability threshold of risk score, the security server 101 mayupdate the whitelist record and/or the blacklist record in the casemanagement database with the details of the device IP address and/ordevice IDs that failed the acceptability threshold of theircorresponding risk score. After updating the case management database,the security server 101 may transmit an alert to an analyst computer 107identifying the unique device IP address and/or device IDs that failedthe acceptability threshold of risk score.

FIG. 2 shows execution steps of generating one alert for a customerbased on multiple possible fraud events for the customer, according toan exemplary method 200. The exemplary method 200 shown in FIG. 2comprises execution steps 201, 203, 205, 207, 209, 211. However, itshould be appreciated that other embodiments may comprise additional oralternative execution steps, or may omit one or more steps altogether.It should also be appreciated that other embodiments may perform certainexecution steps in a different order; steps may also be performedsimultaneously or near-simultaneously with one another. In addition, theexemplary method 200 of FIG. 2 is described as being executed by asingle server computer, referred to as a security server in thisexemplary embodiment. However, one having skill in the art willappreciate that, in some embodiments, steps may be executed by anynumber of computing devices operating in a distributed computingenvironment. In some cases, a computer executing one or more steps maybe programmed to execute various other, unrelated features, where suchcomputer does not need to be operating strictly as the security serverdescribed herein.

In a first step 201, the security server receives an alert element froman alert-generating system or a CSR computer and stores the alertelement into an alert element database. The alert-generating system maybe any computing device comprising a processor capable of generatingalert elements. The alert-generating system may be coupled to a securityserver via one or more networks and networking devices. In someinstances, the alert-generating system may be within the logicalboundaries of an enterprise network, such as a webserver, or may be agateway device, such as a network security device (e.g., firewall, proxyserver) capable of generating alert elements. In some cases, analert-generating system may be a device that is external to theenterprise network, such as a third-party payment server (e.g., FedWire,SWIFT, and ACH) capable of generating alert elements.

In some embodiments, the alert-generating system may be configured togenerate alert elements containing data fields that are associated withthe communication channel and type of alert-generating system. Forexample, a third-party payment server may generate an alert elementcontaining data elements related to money transfers or transactionrequests, such as account identifiers, customer identifiers, atimestamp, and the amount of money at issue. Upon generating the alertelement, the alert-generating system may also generate a notificationmessage to be transmitted to the security server indicating the detailsof the alert element. The notification may be in any number of dataformats and may be transmitted to the security server and any number ofdevices through the associated networks and channels. Non-limitedexamples of the corresponding notification transmission channels mayinclude any number of IP-based computer networks and/ortelecommunications networks. Non-limiting examples of data formats ofthe notification message may include application-specific notifications,and e-mails, among others. The notification message may also indicatedata payment information, e.g., amount and payee identifiers.

The alert element may include log files and/or machine-readable codecontaining data fields describing a detected event associated with adata channel. For instance, a webserver may require users toauthenticate as valid, recognized customer of the enterprise system. Thewebserver may generate an authentication-failure alert element uponreceiving improper authentication credentials from a customer device.The data fields of an authentication-failure alert element may containdata fields associated with the detected event, such as data fieldsdescribing the source device and data fields describing the particularcustomer account the user was attempting to access.

In a next step 203, the security server generates an initial risk score.When generating a new integrated alert, the security server may generatethe initial risk score based on one or more incoming alert elements thatare associated with a customer identifier of a customer. Based on thedata fields of the integrated alerts, the security server may determinea risk score based on an algorithm that the security server or any otherserver of the system applies to the data fields of the alert elementsunderlying the particular integrated alert. The security server thenadjusts the risk score of the alert element according to priorityweight, at step 205. The priority weight may be determined based on atype and nature of threat or a time-sensitive threat/customer-sensitivenature of the potential threat.

In a next step 207, the security server may query an alert elementdatabase or an integrated alert database to potentially identifyexisting alert elements or an integrated alert for the customeridentifier matched to a customer identifier in a data field of one ormore alert elements or integrated alerts.

In a next step 209, upon the security server identifying an integratedalert matched to an incoming alert element, the security server willdetermine whether the integrated alert is marked as completed by ananalyst or has expired after a threshold timeframe of not beingaddressed by an analyst. If the security server determines from the datafields of an existing integrated alert that the integrated alert for thecustomer identifier was addressed within a threshold timeframe, then thesecurity server cancels the integrated alert. In this step, the securityserver may further delete the incoming alert element or otherwise notupdate the existing integrated alert with the incoming alert element.

In a next step 211, upon identifying an existing integrated alert with acustomer identifier matched to the customer identifier in the incomingalert element, the security server may update the integrated alert toinclude data fields from the incoming alert element. The security servermay further update the integrated alert risk score based upon the riskscores and policy weights for the aggregated alert elements underlyingthe integrated alert, and publishes into software services and theintegrated alert database, at step 213.

FIG. 3 shows a scenario example of movement of integrated alerts from anintegrated alert database 300 in order to be addressed by an analyst,according to an exemplary embodiment. As shown, an integrated alertdatabase 300 may move the integrated alerts to analyst computers thatmay be computing devices that fraud or security engineering analysts mayuse to identify and mitigate fraud or security threats. The analystcomputers may be coupled via one or more internal or external networksto the integrated alert database 300. Software executed by the analystcomputer permits an analyst to select an integrated alert from theintegrated alert database 300 and then review or update data stored inthe database record for the selected integrated alert. Based on a riskscore calculated for integrated alerts, the analyst computer presents ananalyst with the integrated alert record to address next.

An analyst computer GUI may receive integrated alerts that are relatedto a particular subject matter. For example, integrated alerts may havea data field indicating identifying the nature of the potential threat,and a data field indicating a time-sensitive nature orcustomer-sensitive nature of the potential threat. Based on this datafield, the analyst computer may receive integrated alerts having subjectmatter or procedural data fields associated with the analystcredentials. For instance, the analyst credentials of an analystspecializing in time sensitive integrate alerts would indicate to theanalyst computer that the analyst computer should retrieve and presentan integrated alerts having a data field indicating that the particularintegrated alert is time sensitive. In some implementations, theintegrated alerts may be stored into dedicated databases orsub-databases of the integrated alert database 300, where eachsub-database is configured to store integrated alerts with certain typesof integrated alerts. In such implementations, the analyst computer maybe limited to accessing certain sub-databases of the integrated alertdatabase 300 according to the analyst credentials of the analystoperating the analyst computer.

For instance, in the illustrated example, there are six integrated alertqueues in sub-databases of the integrated alert database 300, namely, afirst filter queue, a wires queue, a wires (TS) queue, an investmentsqueue, an investments (TS) queue, and a backlog queue. The analystcomputer may be limited to accessing a first filter queue, a wiresqueue, a wires (TS) queue, an investments queue, an investments (TS)queue, and a backlog queue in the sub-databases according to the analystcredentials of the analyst operating the analyst computer. For example,all third-party analysts who do not work wires may be assigned to afirst filter queue as their highest priority. The integrated alerts inthe first filter queue may include all scenarios that are prioritizedthe same and are not regulatory and referrals alerts. All first-partyanalysts who do not work investment or interdicted wires may be assignedto a wires time sensitive (TS) queue as their highest priority. Theintegrated alerts in the wires (TS) queue may include all scenarios thatare prioritized the same, and are related to regulatory, service-levelobligation, and customer-initiated referral alerts. Only investmentanalysts may be assigned to an investments time-sensitive (TS) queue astheir highest priority. The integrated alerts in the investments (TS)queue may include all scenarios that are prioritized the same. Allfirst-party analysts who do not work in investment or interdicted wiresmay be assigned to a wires queue as their second highest priority. Theintegrated alerts in the wires (TS) queue may include all scenarios thatare prioritized the same, and are related to regulatory and referralalerts. Only investment analysts may be assigned to an investments queueas their second highest priority. The integrated alerts in theinvestments (TS) queue may include all scenarios that are prioritizedthe same. Furthermore, integrated alerts may be assigned manually in abacklog queue.

During operation, in the illustrated example, a security server or otherserver of a system executes an algorithm on an integrated alert (forexample, associated with debit card fraud transaction) to determine apriority based on the integrated alert relative risk score. Afterdetermining the priority of the integrated alert, the security servermay assign the integrated alert in a first filter queue. A third-partyanalyst assigned to work on integrated alerts in the first filter queuemay query and fetch the integrated alerts from the first filter queuehosted within an integrated alert database. The third-party analystaddresses the integrated alert associated with debit card fraudtransaction and assigns a “refer alert suspicious” status to theintegrated alert based on the analysis of the integrated alert. Thesecurity server or other server of the system may execute an algorithmon the integrated alert assigned a “refer alert suspicious” status todetermine a new priority based on their relative revised status and riskscore. Based on the determined revised priority, the security server mayassign the integrate alert having the “refer alert suspicious” status inthe wires time sensitive (TS) queue. A first-party analyst assigned toaddress alerts in the wires time sensitive (TS) queue may then query andfetch the integrated alert having the “refer alert suspicious” statusfrom the first filter queue in the integrate alert database and addressit.

FIG. 4 shows a scenario example of movement of integrated alerts from anintegrated alert database 400 in order to be addressed by an analyst,according to an exemplary embodiment. In the illustrated example, thereare six integrated alert queues in sub-databases of the integrated alertdatabase 300, namely, a first filter queue, a wires queue, a wires (TS)queue, an investments queue, an investments (TS) queue, and a backlogqueue. The analyst computer may be limited to accessing a first filterqueue, a wires queue, a wires (TS) queue, an investments queue, aninvestments (TS) queue, and a backlog queue in the sub-databasesaccording to the analyst credentials of the analyst operating theanalyst computer. For example, all third-party analysts who do not workwires may be assigned to a first filter queue as their number onepriority. The integrated alerts in the first filter queue may includeall scenarios that are prioritized the same and are not regulatory andreferrals alerts. All first-party analysts who do not work investment orinterdicted wires may be assigned to a wires time sensitive (TS) queueas their number one priority. The integrated alerts in the wires (TS)queue may include all scenarios that are prioritized the same, and arerelated to regulatory, service-level obligation, and customer-initiatedreferral alerts. Only investment analysts may be assigned to aninvestments time-sensitive (TS) queue as their highest priority. Theintegrated alerts in the investments (TS) queue may include allscenarios that are prioritized the same. All first-party analysts who donot work in investment or interdicted wires may be assigned to a wiresqueue as their second highest priority. The integrated alerts in thewires (TS) queue may include all scenarios that are prioritized thesame, and are related to regulatory and referral alerts. Only investmentanalysts may be assigned to an investments queue as their number twopriority. The integrated alerts in the investments (TS) queue mayinclude all scenarios that are prioritized the same. Furthermore,integrated alerts may be assigned manually in a backlog queue.

During operation, in the illustrated example, a security server or otherserver of a system executes algorithm on an integrated alert (associatedwith consumer loan fraudulent account to be addressed within a firstperiod of time) to determine a priority based on the integrated alertrelative risk score. After determining the priority of the integratedalert, the security server may assign the integrate alert associatedwith consumer loan fraudulent account in the wires queue. The securityserver upon determining that the first-party analyst assigned to work onintegrated alerts in the wires queue have not addressed the integratedalert associated with consumer loan fraudulent account for more than apre-defined period of time, the security server may then transfer theintegrate alert associated with consumer loan fraudulent account in thewires (TS) queue. The security server upon determining that thefirst-party analyst assigned to work on integrated alerts in the wires(TS) queue have not addressed the integrated alert associated withconsumer loan fraudulent account with the first period of time, thesecurity server may then transfer the integrate alert in a backlogqueue.

FIG. 5 shows execution steps of risk management for detecting fraud,according to an exemplary method 500. The exemplary method 500 shown inFIG. 5 comprises execution steps 502, 504, 506, 508, 510, 512, 514.However, it should be appreciated that other embodiments may compriseadditional or alternative execution steps, or may omit one or more stepsaltogether. It should also be appreciated that other embodiments mayperform certain execution steps in a different order; steps may also beperformed simultaneously or near-simultaneously with one another. Inaddition, the exemplary method 500 of FIG. 5 is described as beingexecuted by a single server computer, referred to as a security serverin this exemplary embodiment. However, one having skill in the art willappreciate that, in some embodiments, steps may be executed by anynumber of computing devices operating in a distributed computingenvironment. In some cases, a computer executing one or more steps maybe programmed to execute various other, unrelated features, where suchcomputer does not need to be operating strictly as the security serverdescribed herein.

In a first step 502, a security server receives an alert element from analert-generating system or a CSR computer. The alert-generating systemmay be any computing device comprising a processor capable of generatingalert elements. The alert-generating system may be coupled to a securityserver via one or more networks and networking devices. In someinstances, an alert-generating system may be within the logicalboundaries of an enterprise network, such as a webserver, or may be agateway device, such as a network security device (e.g., firewall, proxyserver). In addition, in some cases, an alert-generating system may be adevice that is external to the enterprise network, such as a third-partypayment server (e.g., FedWire, SWIFT, and ACH). In some embodiments, thealert-generating system may be configured to generate alert elementscontaining data fields that are associated with the communicationchannel and type of alert-generating system. For example, a third-partypayment server may generate an alert element containing data elementsrelated to money transfers or transaction requests, such as accountidentifiers, customer identifiers, a timestamp, and the amount of moneyat issue.

In some embodiments, the security server may match attributes of the oneor more alert elements received from the one or more alert-generatingsystems with a set of one or more scenario attribute models. Thesecurity server then determine a scenario from the set of one or morescenario attribute models that is matched with the one or more alertelements received from the one or more alert-generating systems. Thescenario from the set of one or more scenario attribute models mayidentify a particular type of fraud or attack.

In a next step 504, a security server stores the alert elementcontaining various data fields indicating threats of fraud or attemptsto penetrate an enterprise network and indicating one or more particularcustomers of the system associated with an alert element (often thetarget of a type of fraud) into an alert element database.

In some embodiments, the alert element may include log files and/ormachine-readable code containing data fields describing a detected eventassociated with a data channel. For example, a webserver may requireusers to authenticate themself as valid, recognized customer of theenterprise system. The webserver may generate an authentication-failurealert element upon receiving improper authentication credentials from acustomer device. The data fields of an authentication-failure alertelement may contain data fields associated with the detected event, suchas data fields describing the source device and data fields describingthe particular customer account the user was attempting to access. Theauthentication-failure alert element is stored into an alert elementdatabase.

In a next step 506, using the alert elements stored in the alert elementdatabase, the security server may generate integrated alerts that areassociated with customers of the system, and then store the integratedalerts into an integrated alert database. In some embodiments, thesecurity server may generate or update an integrated alert for thecustomer identifier where the integrated alert is a log file or anyother machine-readable code containing data fields that are populatedwith data that is based on the alert elements associated with the samecustomer identifier. In this way, regardless of the number of alertelements received for a customer identifier from the alert-generatingsystems or CSR computers, the integrated alert database contains only asingle integrated alert for the particular customer identifier.

In a next step 508, a security server generates a learning algorithmconfigured to determine a risk associated with each of the set of one ormore alert elements. The security server may be configured to generatethe learning algorithm, modify the learning algorithm, and execute thelearning algorithm. The learning algorithm may include one or more setof rules utilizing varying values and risk characteristics.

The security server may generate a first learning algorithm configuredto determine a risk associated with each of the set of one or more alertelements. The first learning algorithm may receive an input of a firstlearning algorithm dataset. The first learning algorithm dataset is usedto generate and train the first learning algorithm. The first learningalgorithm dataset may include data associated with a set of one or morescenario attribute models. Each scenario model of the set of one or morescenario attribute models may be computer files stored on a databasedevice, such as a system database, and comprise a set of alert elementattributes that indicate a type of scenario of potential fraud orattack. In some cases, each of the set of one or more scenario attributemodels may be associated with a different rate of fraud. For example,each of the set of one or more scenario attribute models may beassociated with a different percentage of fraud depending on a type ofscenario of potential fraud or attack.

The security server may periodically query a database to receive updateddata associated with the set of one or more scenario attribute models.The database may be a model database configured to store thedata/information associated with the set of one or more scenarioattribute models. The security server may then iteratively update thefirst learning algorithm dataset based on any updated data associatedwith the set of one or more scenario attribute models.

In some embodiments, the first learning algorithm may employ one or morestatistical tools and one or more artificial intelligence systems, andthen utilize the one or more statistical tools and the one or moreartificial intelligence systems. The one or more statistical tools mayinclude artificial neural networks techniques. For example, a neuralnetwork may include an interconnected group of artificial neurons(artificial neural network) that uses a mathematical or computationalmodel for information processing based on a connectionist approach tocomputation. In some cases, the artificial neural network is informulation and/or operation, an adaptive system that changes itsstructure based on external or internal information (such as the dataassociated with the set of one or more scenario attribute models) thatflows through the network. In some cases, the neural networks may benon-linear statistical data modeling tools or decision making tools. Theneural networks may be executed to model complex relationships betweeninputs and outputs or to find patterns in data (such as alert elements).

In some embodiments, the neural networks for fraud detection may havemultiple layers. The security server may implement a first layer of themulti-layer neural network using either a nonlinear filter or anonlinear joint transform correlator (JTC), in association with asupervised perceptron learning algorithm. The security server mayimplement a second layer of the multi-layer neural networkelectronically due to a number of hidden layer neurons. The nonlinearfilter is generally implemented electronically, while the nonlinearjoint transform correlator is generally implemented electronically oroptically. The neural network system may be trained with a sequence ofinput fraud or attach fraud scenarios, and is able to classify apotential fraud activity in real-time. In particular, the securityserver may train the neural network system by updating reference fraudor attach fraud scenarios in the input which can be stored in electronicmemories, without the need of filters or holograms.

In some embodiments, the artificial neural network may involve a networkof processing elements (artificial neurons) which may exhibit complexglobal behavior, determined by the connections between the processingelements and element parameters. One type of artificial neural networkmay be the recurrent Hopfield net. In a neural network model simplenodes, which may be called variously “neurons”, “neurodes”, “ProcessingElements” (PE) or “units”, are connected together to form a network ofnodes. The server computer may further use one or more datasets (such asfirst learning algorithm datasets) for training the neural networks,which can be viewed as an application of optimization theory andstatistical estimation. In some embodiments, the server computer mayfurther use one or more applications for training the neural networks,which can be viewed as an application of optimization theory andstatistical estimation. Such applications may include, back propagationby gradient descent, Rprop, BFGS, CG etc. Furthermore, evolutionarycomputation methods, simulated annealing, expectation maximization,non-parametric methods, particle swarm optimization and other swarmintelligence techniques are among other methods for training the neuralnetworks.

Training a neural network model may mean the server computer selectingone model from a set of allowed models (or, in a Bayesian framework,determining a distribution over the set of allowed models) thatminimizes the cost criterion. In some instances, the server computer mayuse one or more applications for training neural network models, whichmay be viewed as an application of optimization theory and statisticalestimation. The applications used by a server computer in training theartificial neural networks may employ a form of gradient descent, whichmay be by taking a derivative of a cost function with respect to thenetwork parameters and then changing those parameters in agradient-related direction. Evolutionary methods, simulated annealing,expectation-maximization and non-parametric methods are some methods fortraining neural networks. Temporal perceptual learning relies on findingtemporal relationships in sensory signal streams. In an environment,statistically salient temporal correlations can be found by monitoringthe arrival times of sensory signals, which may be done by theperceptual network. The utility of artificial neural network models liesin the fact that the neural networks may be used the server computer toinfer a function from observations, which is particularly useful infraud detection applications where the complexity of the data (such asalert elements) or task makes the manual design of such a functionimpractical, inefficient, and time-consuming.

The security server may then execute the first learning algorithm oneach integrated alert stored in the integrated alert database togenerate a risk score for each respective integrated alert. The riskscore of the integrated alert may be based upon the one or more datafields in the integrated alert. In some embodiments, the security serverwhen generating a new integrated alert, the security server may generatethe risk score based on one or more incoming alert elements that areassociated with a customer identifier of a customer. Based on the datafields of the integrated alerts, the security server may determine arisk score based on an algorithm that the security server, or any otherserver of the system, applies to the data fields of the alert elementsunderlying the particular integrated alert. In some embodiments, thesecurity server may generate a risk score for the integrated alerts,which the security server uses to store, and sort the integrated alertsaccording to a priority based on the relative risk scores. The analystcomputers may query and fetch integrated alerts from the integrate alertdatabase and then present the integrate alerts to be addressed by ananalyst according to the priority level of the respective integratedalerts.

In a next step 510, a security server receives a second alert element.Using the second alert element, the security server determines acustomer identifier from the alert-generating systems or CSR computersfrom which the second alert element is received. The security serverthen identifies an integrated alert for the particular customeridentifier from the integrated alert database, at step 512. Upon thesecurity server identifying the integrated alert for the particularcustomer identifier associated with the second alert element, at step514, a security server update the risk score for the integrated alert.In some cases, the security server may also update the risk score for anintegrated alert at a predetermined interval (e.g., every 5 minutes)based on other factors; and, in some cases, the security server mayupdate the risk score when a threshold number of alert elements havebeen received for a customer identifier. The security server or a serverhosting the integrated alert database may then sort the integratedalerts according to the risk score, such that the integrated alerts maybe presented on a GUI of an analyst computer in order of priority asindicated by the relative risk scores.

FIG. 6 shows execution steps of prioritization of issues in an alertqueue by generating and updating risk score for the alerts, according toan exemplary method 600. The exemplary method 600 shown in FIG. 6comprises execution steps 602, 604, 606, 608, 610, 612. However, itshould be appreciated that other embodiments may comprise additional oralternative execution steps, or may omit one or more steps altogether.It should also be appreciated that other embodiments may perform certainexecution steps in a different order; steps may also be performedsimultaneously or near-simultaneously with one another. In addition, theexemplary method 600 of FIG. 6 is described as being executed by asingle server computer, referred to as a security server in thisexemplary embodiment. However, one having skill in the art willappreciate that, in some embodiments, steps may be executed by anynumber of computing devices operating in a distributed computingenvironment. In some cases, a computer executing one or more steps maybe programmed to execute various other, unrelated features, where suchcomputer does not need to be operating strictly as the security serverdescribed herein.

In a first step 602, a security server receives an alert element from analert-generating system or a CSR computer. The alert-generating systemmay be any computing device comprising a processor capable of generatingalert elements. The alert-generating system may be coupled to a securityserver via one or more networks and networking devices. In someinstances, an alert-generating system may be within the logicalboundaries of an enterprise network, such as a webserver, or may be agateway device, such as a network security device (e.g., firewall, proxyserver). In addition, in some cases, an alert-generating system may be adevice that is external to the enterprise network, such as a third-partypayment server (e.g., FedWire, SWIFT, and ACH). In some embodiments, thealert-generating system may be configured to generate alert elementscontaining data fields that are associated with the communicationchannel and type of alert-generating system. For example, a third-partypayment server may generate an alert element containing data elementsrelated to money transfers or transaction requests, such as accountidentifiers, customer identifiers, a timestamp, and the amount of moneyat issue.

In a next step 604, a security server stores the alert elementcontaining various data fields indicating threats of fraud or attemptsto penetrate an enterprise network, and indicating one or moreparticular customers of the system associated with an alert element(often the target of a type of fraud) into an alert element database.

In some embodiments, the alert element may include log files and/ormachine-readable code containing data fields describing a detected eventassociated with a data channel. For example, a webserver may requireusers to authenticate themself as valid, recognized customer of theenterprise system. The webserver may generate an authentication-failurealert element upon receiving improper authentication credentials from acustomer device. The data fields of an authentication-failure alertelement may contain data fields associated with the detected event, suchas data fields describing the source device and data fields describingthe particular customer account the user was attempting to access. Theauthentication-failure alert element is stored into an alert elementdatabase.

In a next step 606, using the alert elements stored in the alert elementdatabase, the security server may generate integrated alerts that areassociated with customers of the system, and then store the integratedalerts into an integrated alert database. In some embodiments, thesecurity server may generate or update an integrated alert for thecustomer identifier where the integrated alert is a log file or anyother machine-readable code containing data fields that are populatedwith data that is based on the alert elements associated with the samecustomer identifier. In this way, regardless of the number of alertelements received for a customer identifier from the alert-generatingsystems or CSR computers, the integrated alert database contains only asingle integrated alert for the particular customer identifier.

In a next step 608, a security server generates a risk score. Whengenerating a new integrated alert, the security server may generate therisk score based on one or more incoming alert elements that areassociated with a customer identifier of a customer. Based on the datafields of the integrated alerts, the security server may determine arisk score based on an algorithm (such as a first learning algorithm)that the security server or any other server of the system applies tothe data fields of the alert elements underlying the particularintegrated alert.

In some embodiments, a security server may generate the first learningalgorithm configured to determine a risk associated with each of the oneor more incoming alert elements. The security server may be configuredto generate the first learning algorithm, modify the first learningalgorithm, and execute the first learning algorithm on each of the oneor more incoming alert elements. The learning algorithm may include oneor more set of rules utilizing varying values and risk characteristics.In some cases, the first learning algorithm may receive an input of afirst learning algorithm dataset. The first learning algorithm datasetmay be used to generate and train the first learning algorithm. Thefirst learning algorithm dataset may include data associated with a setof one or more scenario attribute models. Each scenario model of the setof one or more scenario attribute models may be computer files stored ona database device, such as a system database, and comprise a set ofalert element attributes that indicate a type of scenario of potentialfraud or attack. In some cases, each of the set of one or more scenarioattribute models may be associated with a different rate of fraud. Forexample, each of the set of one or more scenario attribute models may beassociated with a different percentage of fraud depending on a type ofscenario of potential fraud or attack. In some instances, the securityserver may periodically query a database to receive updated dataassociated with the set of one or more scenario attribute models. Thedatabase may be a model database configured to store thedata/information associated with the set of one or more scenarioattribute models. The security server may then iteratively update thefirst learning algorithm dataset based on any updated data associatedwith the set of one or more scenario attribute models.

In some embodiments, the first learning algorithm may employ one or morestatistical tools and one or more artificial intelligence systems, andthen utilize the one or more statistical tools and the one or moreartificial intelligence systems. The one or more statistical tools mayinclude artificial neural networks techniques. For example, a neuralnetwork may include an interconnected group of artificial neurons(artificial neural network) that uses a mathematical or computationalmodel for information processing based on a connectionist approach tocomputation. In some cases, the neural networks may be non-linearstatistical data modeling tools or decision making tools. The neuralnetworks may be executed to model complex relationships between inputsand outputs or to find patterns in data (such as alert elements).

The server computer may train a neural network model by selecting onemodel from a set of allowed models (or, in a Bayesian framework,determining a distribution over the set of allowed models) thatminimizes the cost criterion. In some instances, the server computer mayuse one or more applications for training neural network models, whichmay be viewed as an application of optimization theory and statisticalestimation. The applications used by a server computer in training theartificial neural networks may employ a form of gradient descent, whichmay be by taking a derivative of a cost function with respect to thenetwork parameters and then changing those parameters in agradient-related direction. The utility of artificial neural networkmodels lies in the fact that the neural networks may be used the servercomputer to infer a function from observations, which is particularlyuseful in fraud detection applications where the complexity of the data(such as alert elements) or task makes the manual design of such afunction impractical, inefficient, and time-consuming.

In a next step 610, a security server may generate a second learningalgorithm configured to identify a particular type of threat associatedwith each respective integrated alert. The security server may beconfigured to generate the second learning algorithm, modify/update thesecond learning algorithm, and execute the second learning algorithm.The second learning algorithm may include one or more set of rulesutilizing varying values and risk characteristics.

The second learning algorithm may receive an input of a second learningalgorithm dataset based on data associated with a set of modelattributes indicating a potential fraud scenario. For instance, thepotential fraud scenario may correspond to data fields indicating typeof the potential threats and nature of the potential threats such as atime-sensitive nature of the potential threats and/or acustomer-sensitive nature of the potential threats. The potential fraudscenarios may be computer files stored on a database device, such as asystem database, and comprise different types and nature of thepotential threats.

The security server may periodically query a database to receive updateddata associated with the set of model attributes indicating thepotential fraud scenarios. The database may be a model databaseconfigured to store the data/information associated with the set ofmodel attributes indicating the potential fraud scenarios. The securityserver may then iteratively update the second learning algorithm datasetbased on any updated data associated with the set of model attributesindicating the potential fraud scenarios.

In some embodiments, the second learning algorithm may employ one ormore statistical tools and one or more artificial intelligence systems,and then utilize the one or more statistical tools and the one or moreartificial intelligence systems. The one or more statistical tools mayinclude artificial neural networks techniques. For example, a neuralnetwork may include an interconnected group of artificial neurons(artificial neural network) that uses a mathematical or computationalmodel for information processing based on a connectionist approach tocomputation. In some cases, the artificial neural network is informulation and/or operation, an adaptive system that changes itsstructure based on external or internal information (such as the dataassociated with the set of model attributes indicating the potentialfraud scenarios) that flows through the network. In some cases, theneural networks may be non-linear statistical data modeling tools ordecision making tools. The neural networks may be executed to modelcomplex relationships between inputs and outputs or to find patterns indata (such as integrated alerts).

In some embodiments, the neural networks for fraud detection may havemultiple layers. The security server may implement a first layer of themulti-layer neural network using either a nonlinear filter or anonlinear joint transform correlator (JTC), in association with asupervised perceptron learning algorithm. The security server mayimplement a second layer of the multi-layer neural networkelectronically due to a number of hidden layer neurons. The nonlinearfilter is generally implemented electronically, while the nonlinearjoint transform correlator is generally implemented electronically oroptically. The neural network system may be trained with a sequence ofinput fraud or attach fraud scenarios, and is able to classify apotential fraud activity in real-time. In particular, the securityserver may train the neural network system by updating reference fraudor attach fraud scenarios in the input which can be stored in electronicmemories, without the need of filters or holograms.

In some embodiments, the artificial neural network may involve a networkof processing elements (artificial neurons) which may exhibit complexglobal behavior, determined by the connections between the processingelements and element parameters. One type of artificial neural networkmay be the recurrent Hopfield net. In a neural network model simplenodes, which may be called variously “neurons”, “neurodes”, “ProcessingElements” (PE) or “units”, are connected together to form a network ofnodes. The server computer may further use one or more datasets (such assecond learning algorithm datasets) for training the neural networks,which can be viewed as an application of optimization theory andstatistical estimation. In some embodiments, the server computer mayfurther use one or more applications for training the neural networks,which can be viewed as an application of optimization theory andstatistical estimation. Such applications may include, back propagationby gradient descent, Rprop, BFGS, CG etc. Furthermore, evolutionarycomputation methods, simulated annealing, expectation maximization,non-parametric methods, particle swarm optimization and other swarmintelligence techniques are among other methods for training the neuralnetworks.

Training a neural network model may mean the server computer selectingone model from a set of allowed models (or, in a Bayesian framework,determining a distribution over the set of allowed models) thatminimizes the cost criterion. In some instances, the server computer mayuse one or more applications for training neural network models, whichmay be viewed as an application of optimization theory and statisticalestimation. The applications used by a server computer in training theartificial neural networks may employ a form of gradient descent, whichmay be by taking a derivative of a cost function with respect to thenetwork parameters and then changing those parameters in agradient-related direction. Evolutionary methods, simulated annealing,expectation-maximization and non-parametric methods are some methods fortraining neural networks. Temporal perceptual learning relies on findingtemporal relationships in sensory signal streams. In an environment,statistically salient temporal correlations can be found by monitoringthe arrival times of sensory signals, which may be done by theperceptual network. The utility of artificial neural network models liesin the fact that the neural networks may be used the server computer toinfer a function from observations, which is particularly useful infraud detection applications where the complexity of the data (such asalert elements) or task makes the manual design of such a functionimpractical, inefficient, and time-consuming.

A security server may execute a second learning algorithm identify aparticular type of threat for integrated alert for each respectiveintegrated alert based upon a set of model attributes indicating apotential fraud scenario and determine the priority for these integratedalerts. For instance, integrated alerts may have a data field indicatingthe nature of the potential threat, and a data field indicating atime-sensitive nature or customer-sensitive nature of the potentialthreat. The security server then identifies a type of threat for theintegrated alert for each respective integrated alert based on nature ofthe potential threat and a data field indicating a time-sensitive natureor customer-sensitive nature of the potential threat.

In one example, the security server may determine that an integratedalert generated based on a regulatory risk have to be addressed within afixed period of time. In such instance, the security server starts atimer on the integrated alert associated with the regulatory risk, andwhen address waiting period for the integrated alert associated with theregulatory risk start getting close to the fixed time period linked tothe regulatory risk alert, the security server moves the integratedalert associated with the regulatory risk into a queue that has higherpriority alerts. In another example, the security server may havespecific rules related to alerts associated with new customers. Forinstance, the security server may determine based on the specific rulesrelated to alerts associated with new customers that the integratedalert generated for any matter related to new customers have to beaddressed within a fixed period of time. In such cases, the securityserver starts a timer on the integrated alert associated with newcustomers, and when the address waiting period for the integrated alertassociated with new customers start getting close to the fixed timeperiod, the security server moves the integrated alert associated withnew customers into a queue that has higher priority alerts.

Based on the priority, the integrated alerts may then be stored intodedicated databases or sub-databases of the integrated alert databasewhere each sub-database is configured to store integrated alerts withcertain types of priorities. For instance, the integrated alert isstored based on their priority into a sub-database of the integratedalert database according to the potential fraud scenario and sortedaccording to the relative risk score within the sub-database of theintegrated alert database.

In a next step 612, a security server transmits these prioritizedintegrated alerts to an analyst computer. The analyst computer GUI maythen receive these prioritized integrated alerts that are related tosubject matter (e.g., type of threat) and/or procedural role (e.g.,time-sensitive threat, backlog timing) of the respective analyst. Basedon this data field, the analyst computer may receive these prioritizedintegrated alerts having subject matter or procedural data fieldsassociated with the analyst credentials with rights to access thesub-database containing the prioritized integrated alert. For instance,the analyst credentials of an analyst specializing in time sensitiveintegrate alerts would indicate to the analyst computer that the analystcomputer should retrieve and present an integrated alert having a datafield indicating that the particular integrated alert is time sensitive.

In some implementations, the security server may trigger and transmitthe notification to each analyst computer having analyst credentialswith access attributes indicating the role of the analyst. For instance,an analyst may have analyst credentials with attributes that indicatethe analyst specializes in handling time-sensitive prioritizedintegrated alerts. When a new prioritized integrated alert is generatedor an existing integrated alert is updated with a data field indicatingthat the prioritized integrated alert is time sensitive, the securityserver or other device may transmit a notification message to theanalyst computer of the analyst computer.

In some implementations, the analyst computer may include queue modelthat contain queues. Each of the queues may further contain one or moreprioritized integrated alerts. The queues may be populated by anautomated security server. In addition, an analyst, in response to acall or other inquiry from the customer, may also be to populate thequeues. In an alternative embodiment, a separate system may be designedto manage risk related inquiries from customers that can populate thequeues with the prioritized integrated alerts. In this alternativeembodiment, investigation of a risk related inquiry can lead to thediscovery of potentially fraudulent activity, and, in turn,automatically create prioritized integrated alerts for population in thequeues.

FIG. 7 shows execution steps of automated regression model to detectfraud by analyzing web logs to find matching web-connection sessionsbased on dynamically generated attributes of any number of sessions,according to an exemplary method 700. The exemplary method 700 shown inFIG. 7 comprises execution steps 702, 704, 706, 708, 710. However, itshould be appreciated that other embodiments may comprise additional oralternative execution steps, or may omit one or more steps altogether.It should also be appreciated that other embodiments may perform certainexecution steps in a different order; steps may also be performedsimultaneously or near-simultaneously with one another. In addition, theexemplary method 700 of FIG. 7 is described as being executed by asingle server computer, referred to as a security server in thisexemplary embodiment. However, one having skill in the art willappreciate that, in some embodiments, steps may be executed by anynumber of computing devices operating in a distributed computingenvironment. In some cases, a computer executing one or more steps maybe programmed to execute various other, unrelated features, where suchcomputer does not need to be operating strictly as the security serverdescribed herein.

In a first step 702, a security server generates session records for aweb-based interaction between a customer device and a webserver. Thesession record generated by the security server may contain data fieldsrelated to the interaction, such as a session identifier, a timestamp, acustomer identifier, and source device information identifying thecustomer device (e.g., IP address, MAC address). In some embodiments,the session record generated by the security server may include one ormore session attributes that may include at least a device identifieruniquely identifying the customer device. The device identifier uniquelyidentifying the customer device is selected from a group consisting atleast one of a phone number, an IP address, and a device ID.

After the generation of the session records, the security server maystore the session records locally or in a database hosted on any serverwithin the enterprise network. The security server may capture data forthe session at different times of the interactions, such as capturingsource device information from header portions of IP packets, orcustomer identifier information from an authentication attempt. In someinstances, a session may transition between channels. For example, asession may begin when a user accesses the website and is properlyauthenticated as a customer. The user may then experience difficultiesin accessing certain features or may identify certain irregularities intheir account information, prompting the user to contact a CSR over thetelephone. The session information for that additional contact maycontinue as the session transitions from a web-based channel to atelephone-based channel. The CSR may input various information fieldsinto a GUI presented on a CSR computer, such as the purported customerwho is contacting the CSR and source device information. In someinstances, customer identifier data and/or source device information maybe received through an automated interactive voice response (IVR) server(not shown) of a helpdesk portion of the system. The session record maycontain data gathered through both the web-based interactions fromcustomer device and the telephone-based interaction from the CSRcomputer and/or IVR system.

In a next step 704, a security server identify an integrated alerthaving a data field containing the device identifier and having a datafield indicating that the integrated alert was associated with fraud inan integrated database. The integrated database contains a pluralityintegrated alerts associated respectively with a plurality customeridentifiers.

In some embodiments, the integrated alert may be associated with acustomer identifier in the integrated alert database. In someembodiments, the integrated alert may include data fields containingdata from a set of one or more alert elements associated with thecustomer identifier. The alert element of the set of one or more alertelements may include log files. The alert element may also includemachine-readable code containing data fields describing a detected eventassociated with a data channel.

In a next step 706, a security server may identify one or more sessionrecords of one or more other clients having session attributes matchingwith the one or more session attributes of the session record. Forexample, one of the one or more session attributes of the session recordmay include a session attribute that may include at least a deviceidentifier uniquely identifying the customer device. The deviceidentifier uniquely identifying the customer device may be a phonenumber, an IP address, and/or a device ID. The security server may thenuse one or more of the phone number, an IP address, and/or a device IDto identify the one or more other session records associated with theone or more other clients that may have the phone number, an IP address,and/or a device ID as one their attributes.

In a next step 708, a security server may generate a session attributemodel identifying a number of session attributes of the one or moresession records of the one or more clients matching with the one or moresession attributes of the session record. In other words, the securityserver identifies the number of session attributes of the one or moresession records of the one or more clients that are matched with the oneor more session attributes of the session record where the sessionattribute may be selected from a group consisting of a phone number, anIP address, and/or a device ID.

In some embodiments, the security server may generate and execute asession attribute model, which may include various data trees and thengenerate an average across the data trees, where conditionaldependencies can be built after running through a tree, scan values ofvariables, and then scan the values of session records, and then runsthrough a subsequent tree; and then uses a new variable to split theprior tree into the sub-tree.

The session attribute model may be a software model executed by thesecurity server, which may provide fraud detection/prevention servicesto the users interacting with the security server via a webserver. Thesecurity server may update the session attribute model according to theinstructions received from an administrator device related to variousmatching session attributes stored in the database. In some embodiments,the security server may update the software model records according tothe instructions received from a customer device associated with variousmatching session attributes.

In some embodiments, the security server may generate and execute asession attribute model having one or more set of rules utilizingvarying values and risk characteristics corresponding to variousmatching session attributes. The security server may generate thesession attribute model using various matching session attribute recordsobtained from a third-party server. Furthermore, for a set of sessionattribute models, the security server may execute a re-learning processsuch as via a combination of a cost regression (linear model appearingas a linear regression where inputs are data points, as disclosedherein, and are fit to a response variable that indicates a survivaltime and leaf squares are performed to quantify an error and a gradientis dispensed to optimize a function) and a random survival forest (acollection of decision trees, where a number of trees and a depth oftrees is compared and optimized as data changes/updated, such as the setof user records), where a prediction that is output from the combinationare input into another cost regression model.

In some embodiments, the security server generated the session attributemodel may employ one or more statistical tools and one or moreartificial intelligence algorithms, and then utilize the one or morestatistical tools and the one or more artificial intelligencealgorithms. The one or more statistical tools may include artificialneural networks and/or Monte Carlo analysis techniques. In someembodiments, the security server generated session attribute model maydefine a hierarchy of data elements for describing a fraud detectionproduct/service. The security server generated session attribute modelmay define the data elements that may include data sub-elements. Thesecurity server generated session attribute model may further specifydata elements at various places within the hierarchy of the dataelements. In some cases, the security server generated session attributemodel may be customized by defining data elements that are specific todifferent fraud detection applications and/or systems.

In a next step 710, a security server may determine a total number ofclients from the one or more clients across the one or more sessionrecords that match with the one or more session attributes of thesession record. In some embodiments, the security server may execute thesession attribute model to determine the total number of clients fromthe one or more clients across the one or more session records thatmatch with the one or more session attributes of the session record.

The security server then determines that whether the total number ofclients from the one or more clients across the one or more sessionrecords that matches with the one or more session attributes of thesession record is greater or lesser than a predetermined thresholdvalue. Upon determining that the total number of clients from the one ormore clients across the one or more session records that matches withthe one or more session attributes of the session record is greater thana predetermined threshold, the security server then determines whetherthe number of session attributes of the one or more session records ofthe one or more clients that matches with the one or more sessionattributes of the session record is in a whitelist record. The whitelistmay include a list of device identifiers that have been verified and areto be ignored for fraud detection. The security server upon determiningthat the number of session attributes of the one or more session recordsof one or more clients that matches with the one or more sessionattributes of the session record are not in the whitelist record,updates the whitelist record by adding the number of session attributesof the one or more session records of the one or more clients thatmatches with the one or more session attributes of the session recordinto the whitelist record.

FIG. 8 shows execution steps of automated tagging of attributes in alltransactions when attributes appears in a fraudulent transaction inorder to retroactively or proactively identify possible fraud events,according to an exemplary method 800. The exemplary method 800 shown inFIG. 8 comprises execution steps 802, 804, 806, 808. However, it shouldbe appreciated that other embodiments may comprise additional oralternative execution steps, or may omit one or more steps altogether.It should also be appreciated that other embodiments may perform certainexecution steps in a different order; steps may also be performedsimultaneously or near-simultaneously with one another. In addition, theexemplary method 800 of FIG. 8 is described as being executed by asingle server computer, referred to as a security server in thisexemplary embodiment. However, one having skill in the art willappreciate that, in some embodiments, steps may be executed by anynumber of computing devices operating in a distributed computingenvironment. In some cases, a computer executing one or more steps maybe programmed to execute various other, unrelated features, where suchcomputer does not need to be operating strictly as the security serverdescribed herein.

In a first step 802, a security server may receive a record of afraudulent transaction associated with a client from a system database.The system database may transmit the record of the fraudulenttransaction associated with the client to the security server onreceiving a request from the security server. In another embodiment, asystem database may automatically and periodically transmit the recordof the fraudulent transaction associated with the client to the securityserver.

In some embodiments, these fraudulent transactions may be identified bya third-party payment server associated with a payment or transactionsystem that conducts payment or transactions operated by paymentservices systems. The third-party payment server may identify suchfraudulent transactions when transaction amount is above a thresholdamount or an average amount to computing devices. The third-partypayment server may publish payment status records and transactioninformation in the record of the fraudulent transaction associated withthe client in the system database. In some embodiments, these fraudulenttransactions may be identified by any suitable alert-generating systemof a fraud detection system.

Upon receiving the record of the fraudulent transaction associated withthe client, the security server may then determine one or moreattributes corresponding to the fraudulent transaction associated withthe client. The one or more attributes corresponding to the fraudulenttransaction associated with the client determined by the security servermay include a transaction amount, a transaction date, and a transactiontime.

In a next step 804, a security server may tag attributes in alltransactions that matches with the one or more attributes correspondingto the fraudulent transaction associated with the client. The securityserver may then store the tagged attributes into a tag table within thesystem database.

In some embodiments, the security server may identify in an integrateddatabase an integrated alert having a data field containing the deviceidentifier and having a data field indicating that the integrated alertwas associated with fraud. The integrated database may contain aplurality-integrated alerts associated respectively with a pluralitycustomer identifiers. Upon the identification of the integrated alertcontaining the device identifier, the security server may also tag asession record having the one or more session attributes.

In a next step 806, a security server may identify a session record thatmay include one or more session attributes that match the taggedattributes corresponding to the fraudulent transaction associated withthe client. In some embodiments, the session record being identified maybe a web-based interaction between a client computer and a webserver,and contain data fields related to the interaction, such as a sessionidentifier, a timestamp, a customer identifier, and source deviceinformation identifying the customer device (e.g., IP address, MACaddress).

The security server may identify the session record having sessionattributes matching the tagged attributes based on matching of theattributes selected from a group consisting at least one of a phonenumber, an IP address, and a device ID. The security server may thenstore the matched session records locally or in a database hosted on anyserver within the enterprise network.

In a next step 808, upon the identification of the session record thatmay include one or more session attributes that match the taggedattributes corresponding to the fraudulent transaction associated withthe client, the security server may identify one or more other sessionrecords associated with one or more clients having session attributesmatching with the one or more session attributes of the session record.

In some embodiments, using the one or more session attributes from thetagged session record, the security server may identify one or moresession records of one or more clients having session attributesmatching with the one or more session attributes of the tagged sessionrecord.

In a next step 810, upon the security server identifying that the one ormore session records associated with the one or more clients have thesession attributes matching the one or more session attributes of thesession record, the security server may then determine a total number ofclients from the one or more clients across the one or more sessionrecords that are unique. In some embodiments, upon the security serveridentifying the one or more session records of one or more clientshaving session attributes matching the one or more session attributes ofthe tagged session record, the security server may then determine atotal number of clients from the one or more clients across the one ormore session records that are unique.

The security server may further generate new fraud alert elements foreach of the unique clients and store the new fraud alert elements in analert element database. The new fraud alert elements generated by thesecurity server may include data fields containing data corresponding totheir associated customer identifier. The new fraud alert elementsgenerated by the security server may also include log files and/ormachine-readable code containing data fields describing a detectedfraudulent event associated with a data channel. Using the new fraudalerts elements stored in the alert element database, the securityserver may generate integrated alerts corresponding to unique clients,and then store the integrated alerts into the integrated alert database.The security server may further generate a risk score for the integratedalerts, which the security server uses to store and sort the integratedalerts according to a priority, based on the relative risk scores.Analyst computers may then query and fetch integrated alerts from theintegrate alert database, and then present the integrate alerts to beaddressed by an analyst according to the priority level of therespective integrated alerts.

FIG. 9 shows execution steps of to assess likelihood of fraud in eachsession using threshold of attribute, according to an exemplary method900. The exemplary method 900 shown in FIG. 9 comprises execution steps902, 904, 906, 908, 910. However, it should be appreciated that otherembodiments may comprise additional or alternative execution steps, ormay omit one or more steps altogether. It should also be appreciatedthat other embodiments may perform certain execution steps in adifferent order; steps may also be performed simultaneously ornear-simultaneously with one another. In addition, the exemplary method900 of FIG. 9 is described as being executed by a single servercomputer, referred to as a security server in this exemplary embodiment.However, one having skill in the art will appreciate that, in someembodiments, steps may be executed by any number of computing devicesoperating in a distributed computing environment. In some cases, acomputer executing one or more steps may be programmed to executevarious other, unrelated features, where such computer does not need tobe operating strictly as the security server described herein.

In a first step 902, a security server generates session records for aweb-based interaction between a customer device and a webserver. Thesession record may contain data fields related to the interaction, suchas a session identifier, a timestamp, a customer identifier, and sourcedevice information identifying the customer device (e.g., IP address,MAC address). In some embodiments, the session record may include one ormore session attributes that may include at least a device identifieruniquely identifying the customer device. The device identifier uniquelyidentifying the customer device is selected from a group consisting atleast one of a phone number, an IP address, and a device ID.

The security server may store the session records locally or in adatabase hosted on any server within the enterprise network. Thesecurity server may capture data for the session at different times ofthe interactions, such as capturing source device information fromheader portions of IP packets, or customer identifier information froman authentication attempt. In some instances, a session may transitionbetween channels. For example, a session may begin when a user accessesthe website and is properly authenticated as a customer. The user maythen experience difficulties in accessing certain features or mayidentify certain irregularities in their account information, promptingthe user to contact a CSR over the telephone. The session informationfor that additional contact may continue as the session transitions froma web-based channel to a telephone-based channel. The CSR may inputvarious information fields into a GUI presented on a CSR computer, suchas an alleged identification of the purported customer who is contactingthe CSR and source device information. In some instances, customeridentifier data and/or source device information may be received throughan automated interactive voice response (IVR) server (not shown) of ahelpdesk portion of the system. The session record may contain datagathered through both the web-based interactions from customer deviceand the telephone-based interaction from the CSR computer and/or IVRsystem.

In a next step 904, a security server may identify one or more sessionrecords of one or more other clients having session attributes matchingwith the one or more session attributes of the session record. Forexample, one of the one or more session attributes of the session recordmay include a session attribute that may include at least a deviceidentifier uniquely identifying the customer device. The deviceidentifier uniquely identifying the customer device may be a phonenumber, an IP address, and/or a device ID. The security server may thenuse one or more of the phone number, an IP address, and/or a device IDto identify the one or more other session records associated with theone or more other clients that may have the same phone number, an IPaddress, and/or a device ID.

In a next step 906, a security server identifies a number of sessionattributes for each of the one or more session records of the one ormore clients matching with the one or more session attributes of thesession record. For example, the security server may identify one ormore other clients that have session records associated with a phonenumber, an IP address, and/or a device ID that match with the phonenumber, the IP address, and/or the device ID obtained from the sessionrecord.

In a next step 908, the security server may determine a threshold valuefor each of the number of session attributes of the one or more sessionrecords of the one or more clients that match with the one or moresession attributes of the session record. The security server maydetermine a threshold value for each of the number of session attributesof the one or more session records based on a pre-defined thresholdcriteria stored in a system database. For example, according to thepre-defined threshold criteria, a threshold value may be set for matchesbased on each of the attribute such as a phone number, an IP address,and/or a device ID.

The security server may further determine a probability score forlikelihood of a fraud in each of the one or more session records basedon a type of session attribute and a threshold value for each of thenumber of session attributes of the one or more session records thatmatches with the one or more session attributes of the session record.For example, when two customers match based on an IP address, aprobability score for likelihood of a fraud may be less than aprobability score for likelihood of a fraud when the two customers matchbased on origin host device since origin host device is a one to onematch.

The security server may further sort probable frauds in each of the oneor more session records based on calculated values of the probabilityscore for likelihood of a fraud in each of the one or more sessionrecords. As an example, the security server may first address sessionrecords that have a higher value of the probability score for likelihoodof the fraud.

In a next step 910, a security server may generate a new fraud alertelement for clients associated with each of the one or more sessionrecords based on a probability score for the likelihood of a fraud ineach of the one or more session records. The new fraud alert element maythen be stored in an alert element database.

In some embodiments, the new fraud alert elements generated by thesecurity server may include details corresponding to the type of sessionattributes that were matched in order to trigger generation of the newfraud alert elements. For example, a new fraud alert element may begenerated by the security server when IP address is same for twocustomers while origin host of the two customers is different. Such newfraud alert element generated by the security server may include datafields containing data indicating that IP is matched and origin host isnot matched. The new fraud alert element generated by the securityserver may also include data fields corresponding to their associatedcustomer identifier. The new fraud alert elements generated by thesecurity server may also include log files and/or machine-readable codecontaining data fields describing a detected fraudulent event associatedwith a data channel.

Using the new fraud alerts elements stored in the alert elementdatabase, the security server may generate integrated alerts that areassociated with unique clients, and store the integrated alerts into theintegrated alert database. The security server may generate a risk scorefor the integrated alerts, which the security server uses to store andsort the integrated alerts according to a priority based on the relativerisk scores. Analyst computers may then query and fetch integratedalerts from the integrated alert database, and then present theintegrate alerts to be addressed by an analyst according to the prioritylevel of the respective integrated alerts.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, andalgorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosedherein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, orcombinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability ofhardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules,circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms oftheir functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented ashardware or software depends upon the particular application and designconstraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans mayimplement the described functionality in varying ways for eachparticular application, but such implementation decisions should not beinterpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the presentinvention.

Embodiments implemented in computer software may be implemented insoftware, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware descriptionlanguages, or any combination thereof. A code segment ormachine-executable instructions may represent a procedure, a function, asubprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a softwarepackage, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures,or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another codesegment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information,data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments,parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via anysuitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing,network transmission, etc.

The actual software code or specialized control hardware used toimplement these systems and methods is not limiting of the invention.Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and methods weredescribed without reference to the specific software code beingunderstood that software and control hardware can be designed toimplement the systems and methods based on the description herein.

When implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or moreinstructions or code on a non-transitory computer-readable orprocessor-readable storage medium. The steps of a method or algorithmdisclosed herein may be embodied in a processor-executable softwaremodule, which may reside on a computer-readable or processor-readablestorage medium. A non-transitory computer-readable or processor-readablemedia includes both computer storage media and tangible storage mediathat facilitate transfer of a computer program from one place toanother. A non-transitory processor-readable storage media may be anyavailable media that may be accessed by a computer. By way of example,and not limitation, such non-transitory processor-readable media maycomprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage,magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othertangible storage medium that may be used to store desired program codein the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessedby a computer or processor. Disk and disc, as used herein, includecompact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc(DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce datamagnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media. Additionally, the operations of a method oralgorithm may reside as one or any combination or set of codes and/orinstructions on a non-transitory processor-readable medium and/orcomputer-readable medium, which may be incorporated into a computerprogram product.

The preceding description of the disclosed embodiments is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to make or use the presentinvention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to beaccorded the widest scope consistent with the following claims and theprinciples and novel features disclosed herein.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed, other aspectsand embodiments are contemplated. The various aspects and embodimentsdisclosed are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to belimiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by thefollowing claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:generating, by a computer, a first session record for a web-basedinteraction between a client computer and a webserver, the first sessionrecord comprising a first set of one or more session attributescomprising at least a device identifier uniquely identifying the clientcomputer; identifying, by the computer, one or more second sessionrecords of one or more clients having a second set of one or moresession attributes matching with the first set of one or more sessionattributes of the first session record; determining, by the computer, athreshold value for each of the second set of one or more sessionattributes of the one or more second session records of the one or moreclients that matches with the first set of one or more sessionattributes of the first session record based on a pre-defined thresholdcriteria; determining, by the computer, a probability score for alikelihood of a fraud in each of the one or more second session recordsbased on the threshold value for each of the second set of one or moresession attributes of the one or more second session records thatmatches with the first set of one or more session attributes of thefirst session record; generating, by the computer, new fraud alertelement for each client associated with each of the one or more secondsession records based on the probability score for the likelihood of thefraud in each of the one or more second session records, whereby the newfraud alert element is used to deny one or more transactions associatedwith each clients; determining, by the computer, whether the second setof one or more session attributes of the one or more second sessionrecords of the one or more clients that matches with the first set ofone or more session attributes of the first session record are in awhitelist record; and in response to the computer determining that thesecond set of one or more session attributes of the one or more secondsession records of the one or more clients that matches with the firstset of one or more session attributes of the first session record arenot in the whitelist record, updating, by the computer, the whitelistrecord by adding the second set of one or more session attributes of theone or more second session records of the one or more clients thatmatches with the first set of one or more session attributes of thefirst session record into the whitelist record, whereby the whitelistrecord is used to evaluate and permit one or more transactionsassociated with the device identifier.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod according to claim 1, wherein the first session record furthercomprises a session identifier, a timestamp, and a customer identifier.3. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein thefirst set of the one or more session attributes of the session recordcomprises a device identifier uniquely identifying the client computer,and wherein the device identifier is selected from a group consisting atleast one of a phone number, an IP address, and a device ID.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprisingdetermining, by the computer, a total number of clients from the one ormore clients across the one or more session second records that matcheswith the first set of one or more session attributes of the sessionrecord.
 5. The computer-implemented method according to claim 4, whereinnew fraud alert elements are not generated for the total number ofclients from the one or more clients across the one or more secondsession records that matches with the first set of one or more sessionattributes of the first session record are greater than a predeterminedthreshold.
 6. The computer-implemented method according to claim 1,wherein the new fraud alert element comprises log files.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method according to claim 1, wherein the new fraudalert element comprises machine-readable code containing data fieldsdescribing a detected event associated with a data channel.
 8. Thecomputer-implemented method according to claim 1, further comprisingdetermining, by the computer, whether the client computer is in awhitelist, wherein the whitelist comprises a list of device identifiersof client computers that are verified and to be ignored for frauddetection.
 9. A system comprising: a webserver; and a computerconfigured to: generate a first session record for a web-basedinteraction between a client computer and a webserver, the first sessionrecord comprising a first set of one or more session attributescomprising at least a device identifier uniquely identifying the clientcomputer; identify one or more second session records of one or moreclients having a second set of one or more session attributes matchingwith the first set of one or more session attributes of the firstsession record; determine a threshold value for each of the second setof one or more session attributes of the one or more second sessionrecords of the one or more clients that matches with the first set ofone or more session attributes of the first session record based on apre-defined threshold criteria; determine a probability score for alikelihood of a fraud in each of the one or more second session recordsbased on the threshold value for each of the second set of one or moresession attributes of the one or more second session records thatmatches with the first set of one or more session attributes of thefirst session record; generate new fraud alert element for each clientassociated with each of the one or more second session records based onthe probability score for the likelihood of the fraud in each of the oneor more second session records, whereby the new fraud alert element isused to deny one or more transactions associated with each clients;determine whether the second set of one or more session attributes ofthe one or more second session records of the one or more clients thatmatches with the first set of one or more session attributes of thefirst session record are in a whitelist record; and in responsedetermining that the second set of one or more session attributes of theone or more second session records of the one or more clients thatmatches with the first set of one or more session attributes of thefirst session record are not in the whitelist record, updating thewhitelist record by adding the second set of one or more sessionattributes of the one or more second session records of the one or moreclients that matches with the first set of one or more sessionattributes of the first session record into the whitelist record,whereby the whitelist record is used to evaluate and permit one or moretransactions associated with the device identifier.
 10. The systemaccording to claim 9, wherein the first session record further comprisesa session identifier, a timestamp, and a customer identifier.
 11. Thesystem according to claim 9, wherein the first set of one or moresession attributes of the session record comprises a device identifieruniquely identifying the client computer, and wherein the deviceidentifier is selected from a group consisting at least one of a phonenumber, an IP address, and a device ID.
 12. The system according toclaim 9, wherein the computer is further configure to determine a totalnumber of clients from the one or more clients across the one or moresecond session records that matches with the first set of one or moresession attributes of the session record.
 13. The system according toclaim 12, wherein new fraud alert elements are not generated for thetotal number of clients from the one or more clients across the one ormore second session records that matches with the first set of one ormore session attributes of the session record are greater than apredetermined threshold.
 14. The system according to claim 9, whereinthe new fraud alert element comprises log files.
 15. The systemaccording to claim 9, wherein the new fraud alert element comprisesmachine-readable code containing data fields describing a detected eventassociated with a data channel.
 16. The system according to claim 9,wherein the computer is further configured to determine whether theclient computer is in a whitelist, and wherein the whitelist comprises alist of device identifiers of client computers that are verified and tobe ignored for fraud detection.